<p>It appears from reading this article that Dean Greene fired an African American assistant dean and replaced her with a white friend. While even if the article was 100% accurate, this firing would not constitute overt racism, I think that sort of nepotism is one of the main causes of racial inequity; that the mostly white people in elite jobs continue to hire their (mostly white) friends for top jobs. At the very least, it's concerning to me that a key administrator who appears to have fired a woman a few weeks after giving her a stellar perormance evaluation and replacing her with a friend still has such an important leadership role at the college. One of my hopes for college is to develop character that will help me fight inequity so it is really important to me that I attend a college that treats people in a socially just way.</p>
<p>I'm just wondering if anyone knows what the results of the outside review was. I really like Grinnell and I'm hoping that this article was just innacurate. Can someone please help me understand what happened?</p>
<p>I sincerely doubt that the true story is as it has been presented by the OP. Expect a lawsuit if it is. </p>
<p>Because of the confidentiality surrounding personnel actions, Grinnell is unlikely to make public the grounds for firing. I don’t want to imply that this employee was necessary engaging in malfeasance of some sort - but an abrupt firing after a stellar performance review suggests that something serious has come to light (and it wasn’t just that a senior level administrator decided to hire a friend). Termination would also have been reviewed extensively by both the personnel and legal depts because Grinnell has deep pockets and risks a lot of negative publicity. Once again, I wouldn’t take this at face value.</p>
<p>The OP presents himself/herself as a potential applicant hoping to build character, but lists
on their public profile. I applaud the OP for recognizing that at age 33 they have not yet built character sufficient to keep them from presenting themselves dishonestly.</p>
<p>Its pretty logical that I would rather be anonymous to the admissions people that will judge my application who might browse this forum. Anyways, I also hope to learn better arguments than ad hominems if I decide to go to Grinnell. </p>
<p>Noone has really answered my question. Can someone please post a link to the results of the outside review?</p>
<p>I didn’t really present the story in any way. I just pretty much paraphrased a few paragraphs in the article in the official school newspaper. If anything I’ve said is inaccurate, it’s due to the inaccuracy of the official school newspaper, not any intentional misstatement on my part.</p>
<p>I think you will learn as you get older that there are not many organizations that treat people in a “socially just way”, as you put it.</p>
<p>Whatever your color.</p>
<p>Also, different people can have different views about what is “socially just”.</p>
<p>For example, is giving admission to an elite college to an African American from an upper middle class background at the expense of an Asian kid from a poor family?" What is “socially just” is not always clear cut.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean to imply, OP, that you misrepresented the story. My point was that there is no possibly way that whoever reported the story would have access to confidential personnel information and represent accurately what happened.</p>
<p>As someone who has worked in mgt. for many years, I have had too much experience with employees who misrepresented their credentials or work history, who did not maintain an acceptable level of performance over time for reasons that were sometimes easy to sympathize with and other times not so easy, who succumbed to the temptation to engaged in unethical practices, etc…I am therefore inclined to question when I hear about a supposedly stellar employee being summarily terminated because of ‘racism’ or to make room for someone’s friend. It could happen…but I’d certainly assume I don’t know the full story. My point is that we don’t - and can’t - know the fully story and shouldn’t jump to any conclusions.</p>
<p>Whatever else you might take away from that campus newspaper story and related commentary, please take note of the date. People come and people go. Grinnell College has seen many changes in administrators over the past two years, including the president’s office. If you visited campus, I hope you were able to meet President Raynard Kington. Maybe you even noticed that he is black. And if you did a Google search, you might also have learned that he is gay (and married with two children). Regardless of time period, Grinnell is considered a socially progressive and forward-thinking campus. If you are concerned about equal rights, social justice, and other forms of fair treatment, please be assured that Grinnell shares your passion for doing things right.</p>
<p>I agree with M’s Mom100% that we don’t have all the information. That said, I think it is hard to not be somewhat suspicious that an administrator who had excellent reviews was suddenly fired and replaced by their former supervisor’s friend. I’m not saying I know what went on or why Dean Greene fired her, but there’s definetly a situation there that, at the very least, is troubling. I wouldn’t call that “jumping to conclusions”</p>
<p>Also, I don’t really understand what floridadad55’s post that what is socially just can be hard to define, and affirmative action that favors a wealthy African American over a poorer Asian really has to do with the thread. Certainly, some decisions about what is socially just can be difficult. However, deciding whether firing a minority employee in order to replace her with your white buddy is socially just isn’t (or at least shouldn’t be) a difficult decision. </p>
<p>Certainly, Grinnell has an openly gay president and loudly espouses social justice as a value. However, it’s important to me that an institution doesn’t just talk about how much it values equality and hire minorities, but actually focuses on actually being just to people of all races.</p>
<p>whether it’s one of the most generous financial aid programs available to make college education accessible to all regardless of economic background, or the Grinnell Science Project which won the Presidential Award for promoting achievement in the sciences by minorities, funding the Grinnell Corps – essentially its own Peace Corps for post-grad service – this college puts its money where its mouth is and has programs that create access to opportunity and support for achievement from people of all backgrounds. The Social Justice Prize, which not only made financial awards, but brought the recipients on campus so that the students, faculty and local community could learn about their work and find ways to become more engaged in social justice endeavors, whether in real-life or as part of the classroom education. These are just a very few examples of what’s provided by Grinnell. Among all LAC’s in the country, Grinnell is one of the most diverse. It’s hard to live out racist policies when a small, yet diverse, community has to live and work together in a fairly isolated community on a day-in, day-out basis. And whenever something on campus occurs that students disagree with, boy do they speak out! From what I’ve seen as a parent, Grinnellians love nothing if not to question.</p>
<p>Does everyone every day live out these values? I’d imagine that some people fall short, and at times the institution itself falls short. But, know this: there are also few institutions as self-reflective and open about itself as Grinnell. Its strategic planning process is conducted in full view of the public, with input and involvement from all walks of school life; students, faculty and alumni are all actively engaged in the process. As part of the “self-gov” system, students are on virtually every committee, including college budget-setting, that the school has. It is rare to find a school with the level of input from students that this school has in the administration, goal-setting and daily functioning as Grinnell.</p>
<p>As a minority… you will be able to find examples of racism/and things that are socially unjust in your everyday life!! LOLOL and if you take up the cause for each one then you will expend too much energy and will be exhausted! I am sure that person that was fired is doing just fine… I didnt take the time to read the article…</p>
<p>So do yourself a favor… get the best education you can for as little $ as you can! I bet the fired dean would say the same…</p>
<p>After rereading the article, and doing some more searching myself, nowhere do I even see a mention of the race of any of the people involved. I’ll be honest: OP, I’m wondering about your true identity and intentions here. Your first and only posts are related to this one incident, you have information which doesn’t seem to even be in the article you cited (or in other articles in the S&B that I could find). I read it several times to see if I could find a mention, and didn’t, but if my old eyes deceived me, then I apologize.</p>
<p>Further review finds that one, the faculty document cited by the S&B as so damning was later revoked from the newspaper because the students could not trust its veracity, and two, that wherever the truth lies in what really happened to this Sheree Andrews, the college did hold an external review of its hiring and firing practices, found some issues including not having sufficient guidelines in its handbook. What it shows to me is that yes, people can disagree about the policy and practices at the school, but that the school does not shy away from self-examination and change.</p>
<p>Trust me what is related here is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the deans at Grinnell College. The school is awesome–but from personal experience the administration is very disappointing and non-supportive of students on an individual basis. Personal encounters with Dean Greene: a nice, well-meaning guy but not much of an intellectual powerhouse–as a result too easily swayed by forceful female administrators with an agenda. I suspect the whole scenario described was more someone else’s idea than his. On many issues the administration is misguided but too insecure to be educated.</p>
<p>I do not think that this was liked to race in any way. Grinnell is incredibly open and accepting and the administration does a good job at promoting this. My experience with the administrators has been positive. If you come to Grinnell, and were to have a problem you can always get involved with SGA which is the student government, where you will be able to make much more of an impact.</p>
<p>This is the first I heard the race angle on that story in the OP, and this story was told to me by one upset student.</p>
<p>I agree with @NCparent51 about the Deans. If your child might have recurring needs with the Administration, then please help your child.</p>
<p>People posting on the Grinnell CC forum say as much as if writing a book, but much of it is conjecture, projection, or sometimes ad hominem, but rarely is based on original source, connects the dots, or persuades. Quoting Al Gore, “Do more with less.”</p>
<p>We have had a diametrically opposite experience of NCparent, with a very personalized, supportive experience of how Grinnell’s administration has met my son’s needs.</p>
<p>I agree with SDonCC, we had a wonderful experience with Grinnell’s administration when we took our son to Grinnell from Asia two years ago and what happens to my son in the last two years shows the administration is never let us down.</p>
<p>The administration seems to be great in helping students if there is parental pressure behind, some students however have experienced that instead helping students, student affairs especially sometimes tries to complicate things, at least when it comes to personal leave from college for whatever reason.
I know of several students who have had to jump through a ridiculous number of hoops because they wanted to take a semester of, either for financial reasons or because they didn’t see the logic behind shelling out some 20K for a semester “studying abroad” when they rather want to volunteer abroad for the semester and do something worthwhile.
Furthermore I think that student affairs definitely needs to work on how students with mental illnesses are treated and how hard it usually is for them to be readmitted to the college if they chose to take a semester off. </p>
<p>This is just the perspective from a current student. I realize that the decisions student affairs face are by no means easy ones. But I also wonder why Grinnell makes it unnecessary difficult for students who want or need to take a semester off to be allowed to do so and return to the college the next semester.</p>