Third World Press
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dr. Haki R. Madhubuti drafts an open letter to Chicago State University (Click here to read)
FAREWELL: FORCED RETIREMENT: Dr. Haki R. Madhubuti issues a Farewell statement at the 20th annual Gwendolyn Brooks Conference (Click here to read)
Infighting, injustice at Chicago State Clash between cultural icon, controversial president is tragic
April 1, 2010 BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist
It is painful to watch two powerful black men fight publicly. In just about every instance, it is the community that loses. This latest clash between Haki Madhubuti, a giant in the literary world, and Wayne Watson, the president of Chicago State University, is no different. On Friday, during his remarks opening the 20th annual Gwendolyn Brooks Conference, Madhubuti will say farewell to Chicago State, an institution he has shared his international fame with for more than two decades. "You don't want to leave a position after 26 years without honor. I\'m being forced to leave. It is not right," he told me. Citing legal concerns, Watson declined to discuss details of Madhubuti\'s departure. But Watson denied that Madhubuti was being forced out.
"Not true. That is his decision. I am only asking him to teach,\" Watson said. Since Watson arrived, Madhubuti, who was the \"University Distinguished Professor\" and \"Emeritus of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center," was busted down to professor of English, a change that will result in a nearly 50 percent reduction in salary. At the same time, Madhubuti is being asked to teach four classes a semester. In an article that appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Watson boasted that he "cracked down on a star professor who had been allowed to teach just one course a year while drawing a full salary." "What is Watson's goal other than cutting him down, other than humiliating him?" asked a CSU faculty member who fears retaliation. "Watson has been coming at Haki since October. He has messed with his money and his status." Best-known for his fiery yet lyrical black protest poems, Madhubuti had managed to stay out of political brawls until now. But on June 22, 2009, he was compelled to write an open letter to Chicago State in which he criticized the process by which Watson was selected.
\'I can\'t work with him\'
His was hardly a revolutionary attack. Thirteen members of the 15-member search committee had been so put off by the process, they resigned in protest. "I knew something was going to happen if I wrote the letter, but I didn't know he would push me to seek an early retirement," Madhubuti said. "I can't work with him. I am not going to stand here and let him use this university like he used the City Colleges." Watson, of course, can make a great argument for wanting Madhubuti to teach more classes. On Wednesday, security guards were escorting off the campus the first wave of laid-off faculty and staff. In times like these, it is easy to justify asking the remaining employees to carry a heavier load.
But let\'s get serious.
Haki Madhubuti isn\'t any old body. He is a cultural icon. He is the founder of Third World Press, a black-owned publishing house that has published works by established black writers as well as up-and-coming authors since 1967. Before Chicago education experts figured out charter schools, Madhubuti and his wife founded the Institute of Positive Education/New Concept School to turn the dream of black empowerment into a reality. His expertise in the field of education led to the development of the Betty Shabazz International Charter School, Barbara A. Sizemore Middle School and the DuSable Leadership Academy. Because of Madhubuti\'s vision, the legacy of renowned poet Gwendolyn Brooks -- the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize in poetry -- will forever be linked to this South Side university. Every year, black writers and those who aspire to walk in their footsteps gather on the campus of Chicago State for the Gwendolyn Brooks Writers Conference to hone their craft. This year, poet Nikki Giovanni is the featured artist, but under the circumstances, the conference will also be a celebration of Madhubuti\'s achievements.
Madhubuti certainly could have taught elsewhere.
The fact that he chose to stay at a university that struggles against great odds to engage low-income urban youth in higher education is a testament of his lifelong mission. This unceremonious parting of the ways could prove to be a devastating loss to the university in the future.
Today, it just makes me sad. No one can do as much harm to black people as other black people. Comments April 3, 2010 BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter Citing vengefulness on the part of his new boss, Chicago literary and civil rights icon Haki Madhubuti on Friday resigned as an educator at Chicago State University after 26 years. "This is a difficult time for me. Because of circumstances beyond my control, I have been forced to seek early retirement," Madhubuti said in a statement issued to attendees of the Gwendolyn Brooks Conference for Black Literature and Creative Writing. "On June 22 , 2009, I issued an open letter to the university community in regards to the appointment of our current president, Dr. Wayne Watson," said the Third World Press founder and Chicago Public Schools charter operator. "I questioned in no uncertain language the flawed and undemocratic process in which he was selected. I was as fully aware when I issued the letter as I am now that all actions have consequences."
First reported by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell, Madhubuti said his split from the university came after Watson, who took the helm of the South Side institution last year, demoted him. Madhubuti said Watson demanded he teach four courses a semester -- contrary to his contract -- removed him from the paid staff of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center he founded, and reduced him to volunteer status with the master's program in creative writing that he co-founded. "I am convinced that this move against me is personal and vindictive," Madhubuti said. \"Although I did agree to increase my course load, I rejected the points that removed me from the structures I founded and co-founded at the university."
Many of the 200 attendees at Friday's induction ceremonies for the center's International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent expressed regret that the distinguished professor was leaving under such ugliness.
In her Thursday column, Mitchell reported Watson denied Madhubuti was being forced out, although Watson declined to discuss details of the departure. "That is his decision. I am only asking him to teach," Watson told Mitchell.
Madhubuti has filed a grievance against the university. Madhubuti rose to international fame as a fiery poet who gave voice to the pain of the 1960s civil rights movement and founded the renowned black publishing firm that distributed black authors deemed untouchable by the mainstream publishers in the early \'60s. The prolific poet and longtime educator also operates three Chicago public charter schools and a private preschool he founded with his wife.
"Haki Madhubuti, he is an institution," said acclaimed author, biographer and researcher Maryemma Graham, a university of Kansas English professor inducted into the center's hall of fame Friday. "The Chicago State MFA program and Gwendolyn Brooks Center has become as powerful and renowned as it has in part because of his presence. That will never change."
RELATED STORIES Where\'s the support for Madhubuti? Where is the outrage over blatant disregard for poet? April 4, 2010
BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist
Are you telling me that a black man can rise from pushing pamphlets on the corner to selling books across the globe, and still have to fight for respect? That that man can marry, raise his children, look out for his mother-in-law, build up a business on the South Side, and still have to fight for respect? And that man can educate his children, and try to educate other people\'s children and still have to beg for respect from the very people who should be holding him in high esteem?
Something's wrong with that.
On Thursday, I wrote about the disagreement between Haki Madhubuti and Chicago State University President Wayne Watson that has resulted in Madhubuti resigning his post at CSU after 26 years. You could have heard a pin drop in the activist community. Madhubuti rose from being a street-corner poet in the 1960s to becoming one of the most prolific writers of the black protest era.
He is also a successful publisher, professor, educator and institution-builder. To those of us who once dressed in Dashikis and read poetry out loud for inspiration, Madhubuti is a cultural icon.
Yet after spending his entire career building up African Americans in the city and elsewhere, Madhubuti is receiving too little support in his fight with Watson.
CSU president faces challenge
Some of the responses I\'ve gotten took a surprisingly narrow view. "If he is a giant in the literary world, then the best people he can be influencing is students and the best place to influence them is to teach them in the classroom," said Melanie in an e-mail. Marc Ganis wrote: "If we are going to educate, we must have those teachers we can afford to pay actually teach. Regardless of skin color, university affiliation and other such issues,\" he said. \"Sounds like Watson is imposing greater accountability at CSU. How could this do anything but better educate the students who attend?"
Obviously, Watson is facing a tough challenge. The former City Colleges chancellor will have to increase the deplorable graduation rate while raising standards -- not to mention change the university\'s negative image as being the university of last resort. Watson has already shown he can clear some impressive hurdles. In 2005, he received a "no confidence" vote from the faculty at City Colleges. Four years later, he was given a five-year contract at Chicago State University amid complaints that the process was rigged. And while the public is outraged that state employees can collect hefty pensions after moving into new state jobs, Watson has managed to do so without anyone raising an eyebrow. Icon is disappointed, not bitter
Unfortunately, Madhubuti is not a politician. He is the poet who turned his words into institutions. Yet the fact that so many of us have no clue about what this man's stature has meant to Chicago State plays into Watson's hands. I wouldn't call Madhubuti bitter, but he certainly is disappointed. "What I have learned in my short time on this earth is ultimately that which is greater than family, friendship, children, status, fame, wealth and strawberries is truth," Madhubuti said, reading from a written statement on Friday night. "Remember if a person can be bought for $50.00, he or she can be bought twice for $100.00. To dance with liars in this culture, partners are always available." Congressman Danny Davis, who tried to intervene before the split became public, also expressed disappointment.
"It is so unfortunate that these kinds of things happen. While there is not any open animosity or friction, there were philosophical disagreements," he said. In the last poem in his latest collection, Liberation Narratives, Madhubuti writes:
"Where is the poetry of resistance?
the poetry of honorable defiance
unafraid of the lies from career politicians and businessmen . . .
Where is the poetry of doubt and suspicion?"
'Where is the poetry of resistance?'
He began his farewell remarks with that poem. All of the inductees to the International Literary Hall of Fame on Friday night honored Madhubuti as the "legacy and the institution\" of the arts community. We need to ask ourselves a similar question: "Where is the poetry of resistance?"
When an icon like Madhubuti is handled with such blatant disregard -- and no one says a word -- what does it mean for the rest of us?
FAREWELL: FORCED RETIREMENT: Dr. Haki R. Madhubuti issues a Farewell statement at the 20th annual Gwendolyn Brooks Conference (Click here to read)
Infighting, injustice at Chicago State Clash between cultural icon, controversial president is tragic
April 1, 2010 BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist
It is painful to watch two powerful black men fight publicly. In just about every instance, it is the community that loses. This latest clash between Haki Madhubuti, a giant in the literary world, and Wayne Watson, the president of Chicago State University, is no different. On Friday, during his remarks opening the 20th annual Gwendolyn Brooks Conference, Madhubuti will say farewell to Chicago State, an institution he has shared his international fame with for more than two decades. "You don't want to leave a position after 26 years without honor. I\'m being forced to leave. It is not right," he told me. Citing legal concerns, Watson declined to discuss details of Madhubuti\'s departure. But Watson denied that Madhubuti was being forced out.
"Not true. That is his decision. I am only asking him to teach,\" Watson said. Since Watson arrived, Madhubuti, who was the \"University Distinguished Professor\" and \"Emeritus of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center," was busted down to professor of English, a change that will result in a nearly 50 percent reduction in salary. At the same time, Madhubuti is being asked to teach four classes a semester. In an article that appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Watson boasted that he "cracked down on a star professor who had been allowed to teach just one course a year while drawing a full salary." "What is Watson's goal other than cutting him down, other than humiliating him?" asked a CSU faculty member who fears retaliation. "Watson has been coming at Haki since October. He has messed with his money and his status." Best-known for his fiery yet lyrical black protest poems, Madhubuti had managed to stay out of political brawls until now. But on June 22, 2009, he was compelled to write an open letter to Chicago State in which he criticized the process by which Watson was selected.
\'I can\'t work with him\'
His was hardly a revolutionary attack. Thirteen members of the 15-member search committee had been so put off by the process, they resigned in protest. "I knew something was going to happen if I wrote the letter, but I didn't know he would push me to seek an early retirement," Madhubuti said. "I can't work with him. I am not going to stand here and let him use this university like he used the City Colleges." Watson, of course, can make a great argument for wanting Madhubuti to teach more classes. On Wednesday, security guards were escorting off the campus the first wave of laid-off faculty and staff. In times like these, it is easy to justify asking the remaining employees to carry a heavier load.
But let\'s get serious.
Haki Madhubuti isn\'t any old body. He is a cultural icon. He is the founder of Third World Press, a black-owned publishing house that has published works by established black writers as well as up-and-coming authors since 1967. Before Chicago education experts figured out charter schools, Madhubuti and his wife founded the Institute of Positive Education/New Concept School to turn the dream of black empowerment into a reality. His expertise in the field of education led to the development of the Betty Shabazz International Charter School, Barbara A. Sizemore Middle School and the DuSable Leadership Academy. Because of Madhubuti\'s vision, the legacy of renowned poet Gwendolyn Brooks -- the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize in poetry -- will forever be linked to this South Side university. Every year, black writers and those who aspire to walk in their footsteps gather on the campus of Chicago State for the Gwendolyn Brooks Writers Conference to hone their craft. This year, poet Nikki Giovanni is the featured artist, but under the circumstances, the conference will also be a celebration of Madhubuti\'s achievements.
Madhubuti certainly could have taught elsewhere.
The fact that he chose to stay at a university that struggles against great odds to engage low-income urban youth in higher education is a testament of his lifelong mission. This unceremonious parting of the ways could prove to be a devastating loss to the university in the future.
Today, it just makes me sad. No one can do as much harm to black people as other black people. Comments April 3, 2010 BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter Citing vengefulness on the part of his new boss, Chicago literary and civil rights icon Haki Madhubuti on Friday resigned as an educator at Chicago State University after 26 years. "This is a difficult time for me. Because of circumstances beyond my control, I have been forced to seek early retirement," Madhubuti said in a statement issued to attendees of the Gwendolyn Brooks Conference for Black Literature and Creative Writing. "On June 22 , 2009, I issued an open letter to the university community in regards to the appointment of our current president, Dr. Wayne Watson," said the Third World Press founder and Chicago Public Schools charter operator. "I questioned in no uncertain language the flawed and undemocratic process in which he was selected. I was as fully aware when I issued the letter as I am now that all actions have consequences."
First reported by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell, Madhubuti said his split from the university came after Watson, who took the helm of the South Side institution last year, demoted him. Madhubuti said Watson demanded he teach four courses a semester -- contrary to his contract -- removed him from the paid staff of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center he founded, and reduced him to volunteer status with the master's program in creative writing that he co-founded. "I am convinced that this move against me is personal and vindictive," Madhubuti said. \"Although I did agree to increase my course load, I rejected the points that removed me from the structures I founded and co-founded at the university."
Many of the 200 attendees at Friday's induction ceremonies for the center's International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent expressed regret that the distinguished professor was leaving under such ugliness.
In her Thursday column, Mitchell reported Watson denied Madhubuti was being forced out, although Watson declined to discuss details of the departure. "That is his decision. I am only asking him to teach," Watson told Mitchell.
Madhubuti has filed a grievance against the university. Madhubuti rose to international fame as a fiery poet who gave voice to the pain of the 1960s civil rights movement and founded the renowned black publishing firm that distributed black authors deemed untouchable by the mainstream publishers in the early \'60s. The prolific poet and longtime educator also operates three Chicago public charter schools and a private preschool he founded with his wife.
"Haki Madhubuti, he is an institution," said acclaimed author, biographer and researcher Maryemma Graham, a university of Kansas English professor inducted into the center's hall of fame Friday. "The Chicago State MFA program and Gwendolyn Brooks Center has become as powerful and renowned as it has in part because of his presence. That will never change."
RELATED STORIES Where\'s the support for Madhubuti? Where is the outrage over blatant disregard for poet? April 4, 2010
BY MARY MITCHELL Sun-Times Columnist
Are you telling me that a black man can rise from pushing pamphlets on the corner to selling books across the globe, and still have to fight for respect? That that man can marry, raise his children, look out for his mother-in-law, build up a business on the South Side, and still have to fight for respect? And that man can educate his children, and try to educate other people\'s children and still have to beg for respect from the very people who should be holding him in high esteem?
Something's wrong with that.
On Thursday, I wrote about the disagreement between Haki Madhubuti and Chicago State University President Wayne Watson that has resulted in Madhubuti resigning his post at CSU after 26 years. You could have heard a pin drop in the activist community. Madhubuti rose from being a street-corner poet in the 1960s to becoming one of the most prolific writers of the black protest era.
He is also a successful publisher, professor, educator and institution-builder. To those of us who once dressed in Dashikis and read poetry out loud for inspiration, Madhubuti is a cultural icon.
Yet after spending his entire career building up African Americans in the city and elsewhere, Madhubuti is receiving too little support in his fight with Watson.
CSU president faces challenge
Some of the responses I\'ve gotten took a surprisingly narrow view. "If he is a giant in the literary world, then the best people he can be influencing is students and the best place to influence them is to teach them in the classroom," said Melanie in an e-mail. Marc Ganis wrote: "If we are going to educate, we must have those teachers we can afford to pay actually teach. Regardless of skin color, university affiliation and other such issues,\" he said. \"Sounds like Watson is imposing greater accountability at CSU. How could this do anything but better educate the students who attend?"
Obviously, Watson is facing a tough challenge. The former City Colleges chancellor will have to increase the deplorable graduation rate while raising standards -- not to mention change the university\'s negative image as being the university of last resort. Watson has already shown he can clear some impressive hurdles. In 2005, he received a "no confidence" vote from the faculty at City Colleges. Four years later, he was given a five-year contract at Chicago State University amid complaints that the process was rigged. And while the public is outraged that state employees can collect hefty pensions after moving into new state jobs, Watson has managed to do so without anyone raising an eyebrow. Icon is disappointed, not bitter
Unfortunately, Madhubuti is not a politician. He is the poet who turned his words into institutions. Yet the fact that so many of us have no clue about what this man's stature has meant to Chicago State plays into Watson's hands. I wouldn't call Madhubuti bitter, but he certainly is disappointed. "What I have learned in my short time on this earth is ultimately that which is greater than family, friendship, children, status, fame, wealth and strawberries is truth," Madhubuti said, reading from a written statement on Friday night. "Remember if a person can be bought for $50.00, he or she can be bought twice for $100.00. To dance with liars in this culture, partners are always available." Congressman Danny Davis, who tried to intervene before the split became public, also expressed disappointment.
"It is so unfortunate that these kinds of things happen. While there is not any open animosity or friction, there were philosophical disagreements," he said. In the last poem in his latest collection, Liberation Narratives, Madhubuti writes:
"Where is the poetry of resistance?
the poetry of honorable defiance
unafraid of the lies from career politicians and businessmen . . .
Where is the poetry of doubt and suspicion?"
'Where is the poetry of resistance?'
He began his farewell remarks with that poem. All of the inductees to the International Literary Hall of Fame on Friday night honored Madhubuti as the "legacy and the institution\" of the arts community. We need to ask ourselves a similar question: "Where is the poetry of resistance?"
When an icon like Madhubuti is handled with such blatant disregard -- and no one says a word -- what does it mean for the rest of us?
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