photo taken from http://www.myspace.com/egambolOK one more thing I'll remember about this commencement was the grassroots efforts put forth by the students in the Asian American Studies yesterday. There is a very kind, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and all around wonderful professor who is being denied tenure in that department and his colleagues and students are fighting to have that reversed. You see, professors join on as "assistant professors" in a "tenure track" position. After three years or so, you put together a huge application for tenure which includes letters of recommendation, student evals, lists of publications etc. If all goes well you get promoted to associate prof and you're pretty much set in terms of job security for life. If you are denied tenure, you have to leave the school the following year and in my mind it's pretty much like getting fired. It's a pretty weird process that I'm just learning about as a rookie in the academic world. Anyways, Professor Benito Vergara was denied tenure which is outrageous. The guy really helped me out when I got started on my thesis and was looking for support from the Asian American Studies department. I was floored when I heard of the denial but I was really impressed by the students yesterday who chanted Tenure for Vergara each time our school's president spoke. When it came time to collect our diplomas, they marched with a big poster stating the same message. Way to get the message out to thousands watching the commencement ceremony. I'm going to go write a letter of support for him now. If you are reading this, know of prof Vergara, and want to help, please check out the following links:
http://www.myspace.com/tenureforvergara
http://www.petitiononline.com/vergara/
http://www.maniwalaya.org/
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