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By Root 813 0

without pay are routinely granted at the university if the applicant’s college approves. Outside faculty are often hired to fill the vacancies left by leaves on a visiting basis, or the salary of the faculty member on leave may be used for other purposes of the college. Unpaid leaves are viewed by departments as a way of infusing new ideas into a campus without the full financial commitment of a permanent hire or to support a onetime project. The time away from teaching allows the faculty member to pursue interests at her or his own financial expense and still maintain an affiliation with the university. Where the granting college values the contribution of the faculty member on leave, he or she is welcomed back at the end of the period. Though some faculty have been granted leaves for two years running without discussion or debate by the regents, my request for a one-year leave without pay sparked contention.

Oddly enough, the very people who claimed that my presence on campus was an embarrassment sought to block my leave. The alternative, they argued to the regents, was that I be fired. The regents, once again, allowed my detractors to infuse politics into what should have been a routine academic matter. Sullivan stepped forward to demand that I be fired rather than granted a leave, and Million took the floor at the regents meeting to argue Sullivan’s case. The following day the headline of the student paper read, “Hill Keeps Her Job, Gets Leave of Absence.” Consistent with the stated academic policy, the regents voted to grant the leave. Nevertheless, Regent Don Halverstadt, who voted to deny it, suggested that I should “vacate the position” and called for a review of the entire university’s leave policy. And again, I was castigated for exercising a right that countless others had exercised over the forty-year life of the leave policy. And once again, the regents allowed the political agenda of a few to dictate the academic policy of the entire institution.

Despite the support of many of my colleagues and students, I was beginning to wonder myself why I did not “just leave” the University of Oklahoma. Stubbornly, I was determined not to give in to the political pressures of a handful of very vocal antagonists and a few others who were simply insensitive. More important, I was determined to see the Hill Professorship through. Had I left the university, it would have died from neglect, as had been encouraged by President Van Horn’s memorandum, and the research would have never been accomplished in Oklahoma. The insensitivity and the willingness to single me out for different treatment made it apparent that the University of Oklahoma badly needed the very kind of research the professorship anticipated.

Through the efforts of friends like Tania Norris who organized individual campaigns and Ellen Gilbert, a new friend, who along with Barbra Streisand agreed to host a lunch for the Professorship Fund, the donations mounted.

“Who is Junetta Davis?” Eric asked me one day in late 1991. Her letters began to appear in response to the attacks by Sullivan and Million almost immediately upon our return from Washington. It was not until November 1992 that I got to know Davis. The sixty-something retired journalism professor with the distinct Oklahoma drawl described herself as one of the few advocates for women’s rights on the Oklahoma campus during her tenure. With an area of specialty in political journalism and quick mind she was perfectly suited to comment on the matters surrounding the hearing and the university’s subsequent reaction. In addition to making contributions from her retirement salary, she became an advocate and spokesperson for the fund at the regents’ meetings. Rather than pelt the board with sharp-tongued attacks, she forcefully drove home her point in deliberate, though piercing language, made all the more memorable by her slow delivery. For my part, I traded my public appearances for donations to the fund.

One such engagement with the Business and Professional Women’s Association proved surprisingly fruitful.