Viking_Yearbook_93

Part-time instructor feels jilted by system when course is dropped i Abdi Hassan Abdi Hassan, a part-time instructor and graduate student, splashed on to the scene when the course he was teaching was cut for a couple of terms and his graduate program told him he had spent too much time on his dissertation. “This is all politics,” he said at the time. “They’re trying to kick me out of my Ph.D. program and my racism class.” Hassan was pursuing a doctorate in the School of Urban and Public Affairs. But Black Studies chair Darrell Millner said the cut of the class was only because of budget cuts, and that many part-time teachers were losing their jobs all over the university. He promised to offer the course at least once a year, taught by himself. Hassan said his work in the development of the Multicultural Center and his campus activism were the reasons administrators wanted him out. Administrators disagreed. Vice Provost of Academic Affairs Dalton Miller-Jones commended Hassan for his activism with the civil war crisis in Somalia, but said the administration was trying to work together in a positive manner. About 30 students crowed into the lobby of the President’s Office chanting “We want Abdi Hassan.” One of the office secretaries tried feebly to explain that Ramaley was in Chicago at a meeting of the NCAA. Black Studies chair Darrell Millner explained the situation to the loud protesters. “The university has not cut the black studies department. The person who made the decision is myself. I discussed it with no one in the administration. The racism course that I created here will be offered at least once a year. It is a core course and those courses are best taught by full-time permanent faculty members. You don’t pick instructors based on rallies in a park.” About 140 students rallied in the Park Blocks afterward, rejecting Millner’s statements and saying they would boycott his class if Hassan didn’t teach it.