President Of Black College Being Sued For Reverse Discrimination

SALISBURY — The president of Livingstone College has resigned under pressure from trustees at the historically black institution, which is being sued by five professors who say they were denied tenure and promotions because they are white.

Dr. Burnett Joiner resigned last month, sparking a protest march by students during the college’s Founder’s Day convocation. Four days later, trustees announced that the Hood Theological Seminary, which has been associated with the 800-student college since its founding 131 years ago, wants to disassociate from Livingstone.

State Alexander, executive assistant to the president at Livingstone, said the three events are unrelated. He declined to discuss the lawsuits or Joiner’s resignation.

Three professors who filed a racial discrimination suit in Rowan County Superior Court say they have documents showing a pattern of racial discrimination over the past decade. Most important, said associate professor of English Robert Russ, is a “smoking gun” report that shows how school leaders systematically removed whites from leadership positions.

A 1994 review of the school’s academic programs calls for the replacement of four white department heads. Black professors are named in the document to replace three of the whites. For the fourth department chairman, English, no replacement is identified. Instead, a notation says, “Bring in black PhD chair.”

Arthur Steinberg, an assistant professor of history, filed the suit against the school last August. He was joined in January by Russ and Robert MacKinnon, an assistant professor of psychology.

MacKinnon and Steinberg alleged that they were denied promotions while less qualified black teachers were rewarded. Russ based his court claim on a decision to deny him tenure.

Russ, Steinberg and MacKinnon still work at the school. In addition to their racial discrimination suit, they have joined two white former faculty members, Frederick Swan and Solveig Dutkewych, who in early 1999 filed a separate breach of contract suit, which included allegations of racial bias, against Livingstone.

In 1992, a claim of discrimination by Allan Cooper, a white political science professor at St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh, resulted in a $560,000 judgment against the school.