Speaking Truth to Power - Anita Hill [44]
For three years my relationship with my parents and siblings, nieces, nephews, and cousins flourished. I became a member of the community, active in professional and charitable organizations. I became a member of the committee on minority involvement of the Oklahoma Bar Association, an officer in the Tulsa Black Lawyers association, and a member of the Tulsa Women Lawyers group. I applied to serve as a Big Sister in the local Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, but due to a larger number of Big Sisters than Little Sisters I was not matched. Still, because of my interest in the program, the board of directors asked me to serve as a board member, which I did.
After three years, my time at the O. W. Coburn School of Law came to an unexpected end. The university administration decided to sell the law school to Pat Robertson and CBN University in Virginia. Each faculty member was advised that he or she would be considered for a position at CBN but I declined to be considered, choosing rather to stay in Oklahoma.
In the fall of 1985 I interviewed for a position with the law school at the University of Oklahoma. The school offered me a position there for the fall of 1986. The school is in Norman in central Oklahoma, and though relocating there was not ideal, I would still be able to reach my parents or the rest of my family and friends in Tulsa within two hours.
The academic atmosphere at the University of Oklahoma was certainly superior to that at Oral Roberts. There was a strong sense of collegiality as well. Faculty members frequently socialized together. In Tulsa my friends were drawn from my neighborhood and community activities, but in Norman my social world was filled with other faculty. It was a comfortable arrangement. I had once again moved to a place where I had an established social base. My colleagues on the faculty of the law school had a reputation for being friendly and encouraging social interaction. I soon began the task of establishing my teaching and research, the latter of which had been somewhat neglected at Oral Roberts, which did not offer tenure and hired teachers on a year-to-year basis. Research was rarely emphasized or rewarded.
In 1988 I was promoted from assistant to full professor. I also served on various committees and boards, including the faculty administration committee, Committee A. The faculty voted to give me tenure in October 1989, and in 1990 the campus tenure committee and the Board of Regents confirmed the vote.
My career progress at the university was rapid but not always easy. When I first arrived, there was considerable student unrest over faculty hiring. One matter in particular seemed to stir student resentment. The faculty had refused to hire a very popular white male professor in 1988, not too long after the period when I was hired. He and I did not teach the same subjects and were at considerably different levels of experience. In short, we were neither comparable nor in competition for the same job. Nevertheless, some students insisted on comparing us and argued that I had been unfairly hired over him.
Once again I was the only African American faculty member, only the third in the history of the school, and the first African American woman to teach there. And once again I was the youngest faculty member. I did not socialize with the students in general, though I was the faculty sponsor for the Black Law Student Association and went to some of the meetings of the Christian Legal Society. The common complaint was that I’d been hired simply because of affirmative action.