Affirmative Action, Hate Speech, and Tenure: Narratives About Race and Law in the Academy

Governments across the globe are struggling to deal with the socially deplorable issues of racism and ethnic hatred. No more apparent is this struggle in the US where educational institutions find themselves at the forefront of legal and social practices to combat racism. This book studies the "race-based" legal cases and literature surrounding three seemingly different practices in US academic institutions: affirmative action in college administrations, hate speech codes (developed to prevent racist insitement in colleges), and tenure of faculty of colour. These processes implicate a spectrum of behaviour that accounts for what is commonly believed to be race, the explicit use of race in hate speech, the implicit use of race in tenure discrimination and the benign use of race to remedy the injustices of the past with affirmative action. Rather than engage in conventional legal interpretation, Baez treats these cases as "narratives", that is, as cultural texts that tell significant stories about the social world. Highlighting potential assumptions and contradictions in these cases, Baez sheds doubt on the role of the courts and academic institutions in progressive race-projects and suggests that framing these issues within legal terms forecloses a critical response to them.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Permission and Releases Chapter 1: Race and Law in the Academy: Hate Speech, Tenure, and Affirmative Action Chapter 2: Discourse, Ideology, and Power: Discursive Practices in Academe and Law Chapter 3: Hate Speech and the Power of Words Chapter 4: Tenure and Intentions Chapter 5: The Stories We Tell: Law, Race, and Affirmative Action Chapter 6: Race and the Politics of the Axiomatic Appendices Works Cited

About the Author :
Benjamin Baez is Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State University. He received his Ph.D. and law degree from Syracuse University. He has published articles and monographs on academic freedom, affirmative action, race service, racism, religion, sexual harassment, and tenure.

Review :
"Benjamin Baez's Affirmative Action, Hate Speech, andTenure is an ambitious book that examines three nominally distinct issue areas surrounding race and the academy. It explores their underlying commonalities, both with respect to their treatment by courts as well as in their linkages to the practices and norms of the higher education establishment...At its best, Baez's study is effective in documenting the "stories" courts (at all levels) tell and the broader implications such stories have. He is generally thoughtful in moving outward beyond the cases per se...Throughout the study, Baez utilizes a synthetic approach to develop his arguments, relying extensively on the work of multiple writers in multiple disciplines." -- Elliot E. Slotnick, The Graduate School, The Ohio State University "Ben Baez's powerful analyses of legal narratives slice through established conceptual dichotomies and map out new spaces in which to think and act." -- Sheila Slaughter, University of Arizona, author of AcademicCapitalism: Politics, Policies, and the EntrepreneurialUniversity "This work is a tour de force, ranging widely over the academic terrain. Although he is more concerned with narratives and theory-building, Baez also employs data and insights from a number of sources. It is fresh, consistently interesting, and surprisingly original thinking. I have taught several of these court cases for many years, and he offers completely new takes on them. It has critical bite, and he clearly is in love with this field. There are not many people who read as widely as he does, and who make sense of the stew. I look forward to his next work with great anticipation." -- Michael A. Olivas, author of The Law and Higher Education "Ben Baez combines legal insight and theoretical sophistication in a thoughtful analysis of some of the most vexing issues that confront higher education today. He is not content with standard interpretations of how the academy functions and instead unearths the often seamy underside of academic life by way of a discursive analysis informed by critical race theory. Compelling. Provocative. Well-argued. Baez is fast becoming one of higher education's most insightful critics." -- William G. Tierney, University of Southern California, author of The Response University: Restructuring for HighPerformance "In his usual style, Professor Baez provides an articulate and insightful look into critical issues in American higher education. His analysis of judicial cases related to affirmative action, hate speech, and tenure delves into the ways in which the speech used by the courts define and create concepts of race and race injuries. A must read for those who want a broadened understanding of legal narratives and their relationship to postsecondary policy formation. In Baez's words, "court cases are cultural texts...they tell significant stories about the social world." In this manuscript, Professor Baez takes the reader through those significant stories." -- Caroline S. Turner, Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Arizona State University and author of Faculty of Color in Academe: Bittersweet Success