The World's Fair

This now becomes the third in an unplanned series on James Sherley's threatened, acted upon, and now ended hunger strike.

I saw notice of this in Science [print issue*] last week. Then, curiosity piqued once again, I found an article ("MIT professor ends 12-day hunger strike") from the Boston Globe about it.

The two reports offered different senses of what actually happened. Science made it seem that MIT administration had acquiesced and said (I'm paraphrasing) 'okay okay, we'll give your case more serious and immediate consideration.' Specifically, they said this:

[MIT] agreed this week to let an African-American stem-cell researcher who did not receive tenure remain on campus several additional months. James Sherley threatened in December to begin a hunger strike over the tenure denial that he attributes to racism. The university, which said this week that racism was not a factor in the tenure decision, plans to set up a committee to examine the status of minority faculty members on campus.

The Boston Globe article, however, has it that Sherley decided to quit the strike after 12 days on the belief that he'd made his point. Quoth Sherley: "Starting today, I will in fact break my fast, in celebration of the attention that has been brought to bear on issues of equity, diversity, and justice at MIT and in higher education."

MIT said this, which sounded hopeful for Sherley:

Professor Sherley's protest has focused attention on the effects that race may play in the hiring, advancement, and experience of under-represented minority faculty, and on ensuring that our grievance processes are comprehensive, fair, and timely. MIT is fully committed to addressing these issues.

But there's also this: "MIT has said that it has reviewed its decision to deny tenure to Sherley and that the decision is final."

So, where to now?

* 9 February 2007: Vol. 315. no. 5813, p. 749