The Temple University Board of Trustees has added two new members to the Presidential Search Committee, Chairman Mitchell Morgan announced over the weekend.
The new members are Faculty Senate Vice President Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon and Senior Advisor to the President for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Valerie Harrison.
The original committee list was released a week prior. Morgan stated in his most recent message that since then, he and several others at the university “have heard from numerous individuals expressing their passionate interest in the future of this institution, and especially its role in the Commonwealth and its North Philadelphia community.”
Morgan said that based on these somewhat “challenging” conversations and messages, the Board decided to move forward with the additions.
Some are still not pleased. The Temple Association of University Professionals is claiming that there is not enough diversity to the committee.
“The Administration added two more women to this committee, bringing female representation to just 22%. Fewer than one-third of its members are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. This is not reflective of our community, and we are demanding change,” TAUP wrote in an article released a day after the announcement.
The association has written an open letter to the Board, calling on them to appoint more women and People of Color to the committee.
Temple Update has reached out to members of the search committee to discuss these concerns and other details about the process, but they have not been returned yet.
Chairman Morgan also reminded Temple’s community in Sunday’s announcement to participate in the series of town halls coming up. These will be hosted by the Board of Trustees to receive feedback on the presidential selection process.
This story is developing and will be updated as new information becomes available.
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