Harvard University Sparks Outrage for Denying Tenure to ‘Latina Star Scholar’
Harvard University sparked outrage among students and scholars all over the country this week after it denied tenure to Lorgia García Peña, a beloved Latinx studies professor, and the only Latina professor on the tenure track at the Ivy League school.
More than 3,000 graduate students and scholars have signed a letter demanding that the school reverse its decision, and about 50 students held a sit-in at University Hall on Monday evening in support of García Peña—and to call on Harvard to create a formalized ethnic studies program, reported The Harvard Crimson.
Arlene Dávila, the founding director of the Latinx Project at New York University, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday that the decision is a “sign of incredible disrespect” and “speaks to a larger disregard of Latina Studies” because so many senior scholars in her field wrote letters of support to Harvard before the decision was finalized.