No new Asian American Culture prof for the fall

Following a two year search to find a tenure-track professor to fill the Asian American Literature and Culture position, the Asian American Curriculum (AACT) project has announced that no professor was hired for the Fall 2003 semester. The program has cited "irreconcilable differences" between the English and American Studies departments -- which helped to complete the search.

"It's a shame, it's unfortunate," said English professor Elizabeth Ammons, a member of the search committee for the new professor. According to Ammons, the decision not to choose a professor was due to "a genuine difference" between each department's choice.

The initiative for the new position began with the 1996 report from the Task Force on Race, which outlined the need for increased representation of minorities in University programs. As American Studies is a program rather than a department, and lacks power to hire professors, the AACT began working with the English department as well in the search for a new professor.

In 2001, lobbying from AACT led English and American Studies to form a search committee to find a professor of Asian American Literature and Culture to be hired by the English department. English professor Carol Flynn chaired the committee, which also included Ammons, American Studies Chair Francie Chew, and Professor Jean Wu.

The committee agreed upon several candidates and brought them to campus, according to Ammons. Of those candidates, both departments agreed that two would be a potentially good fit for Tufts. Unfortunately, those two candidates were hired away before the University could act, Chew said. "It's a disappointment, but I wouldn't say that it's the department's fault or the program's fault," she said. "We actually agreed on a huge amount."

Once the favored professors chose other employment, the increasingly narrow search made the differences between the two disciplines more obvious. "The English department really liked one person, and American Studies really liked the other person," Ammons said. The decision to end the search was unfortunate, according to Ammons, because it was "in the context of lots of agreement on other people."

"This is really a student-initiated position," said junior Thomas Chen, a member of AACT who lobbied for over two years and was involved in meeting the candidates. AACT made a recommendation for one of the candidates, but according to Chen, it wasn't given the same consideration as the faculty search committee's opinions. "I'm not sure how much weight we were given," he said.

Though this marks the end of the search for a professor for next semester, members of the search committee are confident that a search for an Asian American professor -- involved with any department -- will begin again.

"Usually, when a search fails, it's resumed again the next year," Ammons said. "It's not such a terribly unusual thing to happen at Tufts."

The administration has not requested that the English department and American Studies program renew their search for a professor of Asian American studies, but there will be a request filed this Friday to begin a search for an Anthropology professor who specializes in Asian American studies, Chew said. The American Studies program has been consulted regarding that request, she said.

Originally, AACT had hoped that the hiring of an Asian American Literature and Culture professor would foster the creation of an Asian American Studies minor. Though the joint search between English and American studies has ended, a new Anthropology professor specializing in Asian American studies "could potentially contribute" to an Asian American Studies minor, Chew said.