Univ. of Utah's Only Black Tenured Professor Quits for Better-Paying Job - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, May 11, 2000

SALT LAKE CITY -- While criticizing the University of Utah's lack of diversity, its only tenured Black professor has quit to accept a higher-paying job elsewhere.

Dr. Mark McPhail submitted his resignation two days after a report alleged there were too few minorities on campus. McPhail was part of the University Diversity Committee that issued the report.

"There is a serious problem at this university," says McPhail, a professor in the communications department since 1993. He has accepted a higher paying position at Miami University in Ohio beginning in June.

"The people who are supposed to be doing something are in denial," he says. McPhail says university President Bernie Machen is specifically to blame for not doing more to increase diversity.

"Someone's got to say to Bernie, 'You're not doing a good job,'" McPhail says.

McPhail began seeking another job last year after he was passed over for the post of associate vice president for diversity. That position went to Karen Dace, a Black woman who also taught in the communications department.

University spokesman Fred Esplin says the university "recognizes the importance of and need for increased diversity of the faculty, staff and students."