News *Nature* *447*, 762-763 (14 June 2007) | doi:10.1038/447762a; Published online 13 June 2007
Researcher refuses to back down over race case Heidi Ledford Top of page<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v447/n7146/full/447762a.html#top> Abstract University to re-evaluate policy on ethnic minorities Up on the seventh floor of Building 16 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, biological engineer James Sherley already has his schedule for 1 July mapped out. "I plan on coming into my office, just like I normally do," he says. "They'll have to come in here and drag me out." Time is running out for the stem-cell researcher -- a year and a half, one hunger strike and countless e-mails after being denied tenure. MIT has told him that 30 June is his last day. But Sherley has no intention of going quietly. Sherley, who is African-American, has argued that racial discrimination and colleagues' conflicts of interest marred his tenure process. Under-represented minorities (African-American, Hispanic and Native American) make up only 3.6% of the senior faculty at MIT; the US national average is 3.5% in natural science and engineering at élite research universities. "I am just tired of racism," says Sherley. "Here I am again at a point where I am being denied something that I deserve because of my race." I am being denied something that I deserve because of my race. Frank Douglas, who is African-American, also resigned in protest as executive director of MIT's Center for Biomedical Innovation this month: "I leave because I would [not] be able to advise young Blacks about their prospects of flourishing in the current environment." Sherley says signs of discrimination were evident from the moment he arrived at MIT, eight years ago. Requests to expand his lab space were denied, he says, and his lab was rarely invited to speak at departmental seminars. In March, faculty members at the biological engineering department expanded on their decision not to grant Sherley tenure, saying the process was "as free as humanly possible from bias and racism". "External letters from experts in the field of stem-cell biology were not strong enough," they wrote. They point out that two-thirds of the $1.5 million in external funds used to fund Sherley's pre-tenure research came from grants on which Sherley was not the primary investigator. On average, only a third of MIT assistant professors receive tenure. During the years before the decision, Sherley published six peer-reviewed research papers. Of the two other candidates in his department who were awarded tenure around the time when Sherley's case was being considered, one had published 12 papers during the same period, the other 18. Both bodies of work were cited on average twice as often as Sherley's. However, the value of Sherley's research cannot be appreciated merely by counting citations, says George Church, a Harvard University biologist. "It takes a little digging to see it," he says. "They don't give him any credit for the creativity." Sherley has tackled several open questions in stem-cell biology. He re-evaluated the 'immortal strand' hypothesis proposed more than 30 years ago as a mechanism by which adult stem cells prevent the accumulation of mutations in their DNA. In 2006, after his tenure application was denied, Sherley was awarded the National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award for challenging research directions. [image: Researcher refuses to back down over race case] C. SUZUKI/AP Biological engineer James Sherley claims racial discrimination cost him tenure at MIT. Not everyone feels Sherley's work warrants tenure. "I thought the decision not to grant tenure was correct," says Nancy Hopkins, an MIT biologist who led the institute's evaluation of gender equality in the late 1990s. "I did not detect bias that affected this outcome. However, unintentional racial bias, like gender bias, is unavoidable in our society." Some speculate that Sherley's controversial opposition to embryonic stem-cell research was a factor. Sherley, who studies adult stem cells, has been critical of embryonic stem-cell research on ethical and practical grounds. Sherley ended his March hunger strike after 12 days, when, according to him, MIT agreed to re-evaluate his case. MIT says no such agreement was ever made and no further investigation is needed. Sherley says that MIT has failed to hold up its end of the bargain; the university says that the inquiry held before the strike by a committee of senior faculty members, who were approved by Sherley, is sufficient. His complaints have triggered one change, though: after the hunger strike, MIT announced a new initiative on race. It includes a study modelled on the 1999 investigation led by Hopkins on female scientists, and aims to quantify differences such as salary, lab space and the time between tenure and promotion to full professor. The study is due to be completed in September 2008. For Sherley, the results will come too late. "His term as a member of the faculty ends on 30 June," says MIT chancellor Phillip Clay. "The review process is complete." *See Editorial, page 753<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v447/n7146/full/00000.html> .* Correspondence *Nature* *448*, 250 (19 July 2007) | doi:10.1038/448250a; Published online 18 July 2007 Race: talented minorities face a 'revolving door' Ben Barres1<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7151/full/448250a.html#a1> 1. Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Fairchild Room D235, 299 Campus Drive, Stanford, California 94305-5125, USA Sir Your News story 'Researcher refuses to back down over race case' (Nature 447, 762-763; doi:10.1038/447762a 2007 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/447762a>) calls attention to the courageous stand taken by James Sherley, an assistant professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who believes that he was denied tenure because of racial discrimination. Remarkably, although there has long been a high percentage of African-American students at leading US universities -- 10% of incoming undergraduates at MIT, for example -- very few have so far made it through to tenure. Only about 1% of biology professors at US universities are African-Americans. Although one-third of assistant professors overall may make it to tenure at MIT, hardly any African-American assistant professors have ever done so in MIT's core disciplines of science and engineering. The same seems to be true at most leading US universities, leading to what has been termed a 'revolving door' for even very talented young African-American scientists such as Sherley, who last year won a National Institutes of Health Pioneer award for innovative work. How can it be that white and black scientists who initially seem equally talented have such different chances of making it to tenure? I would argue that it is because present tenure policies are unintentionally designed to prevent the success of even the most talented minority scientists. At places like MIT, only a fraction of faculty make it, even if they're white. In the face of pervasive racial barriers, how can talented minorities have a fair chance in such a steeply competitive timed-tenure system? These barriers can include lack of equal space and resources, lack of mentoring by senior faculty, lack of inclusion in faculty activities such as invitations to speak in seminar series, a general lack of recognition and support, and a hesitancy among white students to join the labs of minority faculty or to be referred to minority labs by senior faculty. In the face of so many obstacles, how is it fair to argue that Sherley does not deserve tenure because he didn't publish quite as many papers as white assistant professors who did not face any of these barriers? Although the MIT faculty and administrators who have considered his tenure application are for the most part well-meaning, they seem to be unaware of the reality of persisting racial barriers. They unfairly prefer to attribute lack of success to inability. In a survey of MIT students in 1985, it was found that African-Americans have surprisingly few meaningful faculty contacts, most of those being with the tiny percentage of the faculty who are ethnic minorities. If minority students and faculty are to be successful, there is an urgent need for universities to re-evaluate and redesign their policies that control retention of ethnic minorities on their faculty. Correspondence *Nature* *448*, 250 (19 July 2007) | doi:10.1038/448250b; Published online 18 July 2007 Race and tenure case was not handled fairly by MIT James Sherley1<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7151/full/448250b.html#a1> 1. Department of Biological Engineering, Biotechnology Process Engineering Center, Center for Environmental Health Sciences, Center for Cancer Research, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA Sir Although tenure evaluations are not primarily accountings of publications, you reported in your News story 'Researcher refuses to back down over race case' ( Nature 447, 762-763; doi:10.1038/447762a 2007<http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/447762a>) that I published six peer-reviewed research papers during the years before the decision taken by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) about my tenure. My years as a principal investigator before MIT's decision include research at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. MIT's tenure decision should have been based on my comprehensive work as a principal investigator, not limited only to time at MIT. The MIT faculty personnel record submitted for my tenure evaluation listed 41 scholarly articles published, in press, or accepted for publication, including 11 peer-reviewed primary-research articles, two peer-reviewed review articles, five peer-reviewed proceedings papers and four book chapters (two peer-reviewed). Not included in this total are four research manuscripts submitted to peer-reviewed journals and 10 published patent applications. Your comparison of my tenure application with those of two other faculty awarded tenure at the same time is not a fair comparison, because people who arrive at an institution mid-career are not comparable to those who began their faculty careers at the institution at which they later apply for tenure. Their research programmes are at a different stage of maturity, and often the projects undertaken differ significantly in degree of challenge and impact. Even so, another mid-career faculty member received MIT tenure within the same timeframe as my application, largely on the basis of contributions that had been made before arrival there. My main complaint against MIT is the manner in which my case was decided by the faculty chair. For example, at MIT, when a tenure-case decision is being made, review of the case is prohibited outside its department. If the case is not advanced to the next level of review, it is sealed. So why was a professor who is neither a member of my faculty nor an expert in my field -- stem-cell biology -- asked by the faculty chair to review the case before the decision was announced? -- Gyanendra Kumar, Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012 __._,_.___ Messages in this topic <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDSF-India/message/1130;_ylc=X3oDMTM1MDExZ241BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2ODM2NTIwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2Mzk4NQRtc2dJZAMxMTMwBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3Z0cGMEc3RpbWUDMTE4NDc5NjA4MwR0cGNJZAMxMTMw> (1) Reply (via web post) <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDSF-India/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJxbXUzdjRjBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2ODM2NTIwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2Mzk4NQRtc2dJZAMxMTMwBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3JwbHkEc3RpbWUDMTE4NDc5NjA4Mw--?act=reply&messageNum=1130>| Start a new topic <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDSF-India/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJmYjdoN3E1BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2ODM2NTIwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2Mzk4NQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNudHBjBHN0aW1lAzExODQ3OTYwODM-> Messages<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDSF-India/messages;_ylc=X3oDMTJmNTY4YnUxBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2ODM2NTIwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2Mzk4NQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNtc2dzBHN0aW1lAzExODQ3OTYwODM->| Files<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDSF-India/files;_ylc=X3oDMTJnZWlvZzBwBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2ODM2NTIwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2Mzk4NQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNmaWxlcwRzdGltZQMxMTg0Nzk2MDgz>| Photos<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDSF-India/photos;_ylc=X3oDMTJmazE0ajM0BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2ODM2NTIwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2Mzk4NQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNwaG90BHN0aW1lAzExODQ3OTYwODM->| Links<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDSF-India/links;_ylc=X3oDMTJnYjcycnBhBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2ODM2NTIwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2Mzk4NQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNsaW5rcwRzdGltZQMxMTg0Nzk2MDgz>| Polls<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDSF-India/polls;_ylc=X3oDMTJnZzhoMnBxBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2ODM2NTIwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2Mzk4NQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNwb2xscwRzdGltZQMxMTg0Nzk2MDgz>| Members<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDSF-India/members;_ylc=X3oDMTJmODBnYXBvBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2ODM2NTIwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2Mzk4NQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNtYnJzBHN0aW1lAzExODQ3OTYwODM->| Calendar<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDSF-India/calendar;_ylc=X3oDMTJlbGFuMWRhBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2ODM2NTIwBGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2Mzk4NQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNjYWwEc3RpbWUDMTE4NDc5NjA4Mw--> [image: Yahoo! 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