TO THE EDITOR:
Our department’s decision to change its name from African and Afro-American Studies to African, African-American and Diaspora Studies (AAAD) was not motivated by a desire for a fresh start in the wake of the recent scandal involving our former chair, Dr. Julius Nyang’oro, and department secretary Deborah Crowder.
It reflects, rather, our sense of the long-term intellectual trajectory of our field.
More scholars in our department, and in similar departments across the U.S., are focusing their research not just on African and African-American matters, but also on topics that are not confined to those regions. The inclusion of “diaspora” in our title acknowledges this growing focus.
The editors’ insistence that “progress in the implementation process of (our department’s) new policies could be more transparent” seems unwarranted. Since we have just enacted the policies, what do we have to be transparent about?
The Daily Tar Heel seems to have decided that its civic duty is to keep up pressure on our department, insinuating that we are hiding something. This is despite the fact that we faculty have been fully compliant in an exceptionally thorough investigation process, entailing 1) individual interviews with two senior deans, 2) individual interviews with the State Bureau of Investigations, 3) a review of the deans’ review by the UNC Board of Governors and 4) a new investigation led by former Gov. Jim Martin.
I remind readers that none of these investigations have yielded evidence of misdeeds by anyone in our department other than Nyang’oro and Crowder.
We are frankly tired of the accusation that the department as a whole is not being adequately “transparent,” and the implication that we remain collectively culpable for the wrongdoings of one faculty member and one staff person, both of whom are no longer with us.
David Pier
Assistant Professor
Department of African, African-American and Diaspora Studies
