FEATURE
Call For Equality: Asian Professor Denied Tenure at GSU & Claimed Discrimination
Dr. Emelita Breyer claimed GSU denued her tenure due to her racial background.
By Huy Ngoc Truong Posted October 1, 2007
“I do not feel angry. I felt a great disappointment and frustration for not being able to understand the logic behind the actions of the individuals who rejected my application for tenure.” That is what Dr. Emelita Breyer said when enquired about how she felt about being denial tenure position at Georgia State University on September 24, 2007 at the Town Hall Meeting at the Shallowford Presbyterian Church. The town hall meeting was packed with people listening to issue about public safety, the Sembler Project, and last but not least on the agenda; a call for Action- Civil Rights for Invisible Minority.
Since quitting Georgia State, Dr. Breyer has been teaching at the School of Medicine at Emory University as an assistant professor. Her works has been termed as “Changing the World” and “Groundbreaking”. The Center for Disease Control is in conjunction with her in applying for patents for her works and she had five publications in highly respected journals.
Her story began in September 8, in 2005, when Breyer who has been with GSU for six years, since 1999 applied for tenure and promotion. She was denied tenure in Oct 6, 2005, and after many appeals to the Board of Regents of the University system of Georgia; her tenure and promotion is still being denied. According to Dr. Breyer, there are three criteria when a professor decides to apply for tenure and promotion: professional, instructions and service. She has been given outstanding rating for all three and needed one ‘Excellent’ in either Professional or Instruction and a ‘Very Good’ in Service to get tenure and promoted to Associate Professor.
Breyer complaint statement states that the reason she did not get tenure because of her race/ancestry which is Filipino/Chinese-American. At first, Breyer did not know why she was denied tenure until March of 2006 when she learned that several Caucasian Chemistry Professors who held the commanding votes on the promotion and tenure committee had engaged in a series of unlawful acts to deny Breyer of her tenure promotion. Such bias statements were made during Breyer tenure application process such as “too many Asian professors and too few Caucasian professors.” After denying Dr. Breyer of tenure, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia did not do anything and so this is why Breyer made the ultimate decision by quitting GSU.
Dr. Breyer is facing what is called “the glass ceiling”, it is when you reach a certain point in your career and you want to move up or to be promoted but you are disqualified while your colleague are moving up the ladder to higher positions and pay raises. Breyer fears that the reason this is going on because our history had not taught us to become aware and active in this issue. Breyer is fighting for her civil rights and also for the rights of other whom she called the “invisible minority”.
According to Alex Wu who is the committee chairman of OCA-GA (Organization of Chinese Americans-Georgia Chapter) used the term “invisible minority” as the lack of visibility of Asian-Americans from the political and civil rights. According to the 2006 US Census there are 276941 (the number in reality could be much higher) Asian-Americans living in the Metro-Atlanta area. “There may be a lot of us in various places but our concerns which are similar to other race/ethnicity are not often heard. We only have one Asian-American State Representative (Charlice Byrd of District of District 20) and this is why we lack and have no voice in the mainstream political party. One of the main reason we tolerate such abuses of our civil rights because the majority of Asian-Americans came to this country for the sake of our children future and they see this as a part of the prices they have to trade for their children freedom,” said Alex Wu.
Senator Steve Henson of District 41 said that there are ways that Asian-Americans can get its voice heard. “Asian Americans can increase its visibility by joining political parties, meet and talk with our legislators and representatives at town hall meeting just like this one. Community education is another way to get our cultures and nationalities out there to the public. We can participate in our community events to educate different ethnicities about the various Asian cultures and traditions. By being active in our community not only will our neighbors learn something about us but also will prevent discrimination against us since there will be no taboo about our cultural backgrounds or language skills. Thus our children and future generation will be proud of us because they will not be looked down on as another ‘model minority’ myth.”
Time has changed. As Asian-Americans become more mature and self-assertive, many have stood up and demand justice for the wrong doings that have been done to them now and in the past. With the support of community organizations such as OCA-GA and APAC, people like Dr. Breyer and other Asian-Americans have the courage to stand up and fight for their civil rights. What Breyer has learned from this experience is that “if you are an Asian-American the standards are much higher. Outstanding is the highest one can reach. I cannot change the color of my skin” and Alex Wu pointed out that “if your rights is violated, you need to speak up for yourself!”
To sign a petition, visit: www.emelita-breyer.com and www.oca-georgia.org