Sunday, July 28, 1996

UT Arlington President Orders Diversity Training for Key Administrators

By Associated Press

ARLINGTON (AP) - University of Texas at Arlington President Robert Witt is ordering racial and cultural sensitivity training for all top school officials after the resignations of three black administrators.

Dorcas Bowles, Shirley King and Linda Rollins-Threats resigned after a white professor at the School of Social Work sent electronic mail to colleagues referring to the three with language some consider racially offensive, the Arlington Morning News reported Saturday.

Ms. Bowles, dean of the School of Social Work, and Ms. King, an associate dean, resigned two weeks ago, several weeks after the departure of Ms. Rollins-Threats, another administrator in the school.

The three have not granted interviews, but their supporters have attributed the resignations to the e-mail, the Morning News said.

In the message, the three are referred to as "The Supremes," an apparent reference to the 1960s singing group of African-American women.

While the administrators' supporters say racism is to blame for the resignations, some faculty members have said personality conflicts were the real cause for trouble within the department.

Witt met for 2-1/2 hours Friday with leaders in the black community and later acknowledged he should have acted more forcefully to correct the situation.

"I should have responded more rapidly," he said. "But the defense of free speech does not allow me to prevent them from making such comments."

Witt also said deans, departmental chairpersons and other key administrators at UTA will be ordered to undergo sensitivity training.

"We discussed what circumstances might have contributed to their resignations, and what actions we could take to reduce the likelihood that this would happen again," he said.

"One of the concerns expressed is that the university, and I guess that would be my primary responsibility, did not respond with rapidity, or force in denouncing the statements some faculty members made."

The Rev. Leroy Haynes, leader of a campus African-American advisory group, said Witt's "limited response" in March led the three administrators and other black faculty members to believe they had no recourse when faced with racial harassment.

"If the administration had developed a more responsive strategy, I believe the resignations would not have happened," Haynes said.

Both Witt and Haynes said they believed only a few individuals in the School of Social Work - not the entire faculty - were responsible for creating problems for the three administrators.

Witt said he will appoint Ms. Bowles' replacement, chosen from within the university, early next week. A nationwide search will begin in September to find a permanent replacement, he said.