“One could easily draw the impression that the dean is trying to get rid of the department,” says Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, who founded the doctoral program in 1988 and is one of the nation’s foremost scholars on Afrocentrism. “In fact, she arbitrarily split a line between the history department and the African-American studies department, which had never happened before. This was an African-American studies line that was split, and therefore, students and faculty could get the impression that we were losing positions and autonomy.”

After Norment retired in July, Soufas informed the department that it had two weeks to recommend an interim chair. Faculty members selected Dr. Kariamu Welsh, a well-respected professor in Temple’s Boyer College of Music and Dance, but her nomination was eventually rejected.

Soufas declined to comment on the reason why Welsh, an expert in African dance, who had already served as the chair of the dance department for many years, had not been appointed to the post. Welsh did not return email and phone calls seeking comment.

But Asante says that “the majority of the faculty recommended her and therefore the dean was morally obliged to honor their recommendation.” Because he was once married to Welsh and together they have a son, MK, a professor of creative writing at Morgan State University, Asante recused himself from participating in the department vote.

Soufas then gave the department another week, according to Asante, to recommend someone to the position. When a name was not provided, she placed the department in receivership and appointed her deputy as a caretaker administrator, angering many faculty and students.

“Although we have no issues or personal problems with Vice Dean Drake or her administrative capabilities, we do feel as though her appointment is an act of complete disrespect to our department,” the graduate students wrote in their open letter that was circulated to students and faculty across the country through various emails and listservs.

The letter continues, “We held a democratic selection process to find an interim chair position, yet our department was never given a specific reason for the denial of our request. In addition, Dean Drake is not theoretically based or epistemologically trained in the discipline of African American Studies. Therefore, we ask two questions: How can she hold the best interest of our department at heart when she is not knowledgeable of or trained in the theories and paradigms of our discipline? And why is it that we cannot have the freedom, liberty, and self-determination to choose who we, as a collective, feel is best suited to move our department forward to new horizons?”

Drake, a scholar of American literature, declined to comment on the controversy, but Soufas says that she stands by her decision to appoint her to the position, adding that the department needs to focus its energy on rebuilding, including adding and revising new course offerings.

“One of my responsibilities is to pick the right person to chair the department,” she says. “Dean Drake brings enormous administrative skills to the job and is the right person at this time. I would do it again.”

She adds that Drake’s role in the department is only temporary and that plans are already in place to hire a full-time chairperson during the 2013-2014 academic year. Due to budgetary concerns, the university had prohibited departments from hiring outside the assistant professor level, but a search will soon be initiated for the department to hire a senior scholar among their ranks.

via Turmoil in Temple’s African-American Studies Program Taking Its Toll – Higher Education.