Thursday, November 14, 1996

Philadelphia Online -- The Philadelphia Inquirer, Page One -- Copyright

Thursday, November 14, 1996

Panel report sheds light on Asante controversy

Temple faculty board sought a tribunal.

By Howard Goodman

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The case had roiled Temple University's African American studies

department for nearly two years. The complaint: that chairman Molefi K.

Asante, a founder of the academic school known as Afrocentrism,

appropriated the work of a junior colleague with whom he collaborated on a

textbook.

Last month, Temple president Peter J. Liacouras formally dismissed the

allegations and urged "all parties to leave behind the unfortunate series

of incidents."

In so doing, Liacouras rejected a faculty committee's unanimous

recommendation that a university tribunal weigh charges of "grave

misconduct" against Asante. Had the charges been sustained, Asante could

have lost his job.

In a confidential 27-page report to Liacouras, the Faculty Senate

personnel committee had said "there is considerable evidence" that Asante

abused his power as department chairman in his dealings with assistant

professor Ella Forbes, who worked with him on a textbook titled African

American History. Asante is listed as sole author of the work.

"We think a hearing committee could find that Dr. Asante used the power of

his position to misappropriate Dr. Forbes' work, first by getting her

'consent' to his becoming her coauthor, and then by becoming sole author

and obtaining her consent to that role after the fact," the report said.

In dismissing the personnel committee's recommendation, Liacouras cited an

agreement Forbes had reached with the publisher in which she withdrew from

the project, permitted a portion of her manuscript to be used in return

for royalties, and insisted that her name not appear on the book.

Liacouras also said that neither Asante nor Forbes had complied with a

Temple policy requiring permission from their dean for any outside writing

projects. That, he said, "sufficiently tainted these proceedings, in my

opinion, to nullify them." In its report to Liacouras, the faculty

committee said a tribunal could reasonably conclude that Asante had

gradually taken over the book project, and Forbes' scholarship, without

her permission long before she reached her agreement with the publisher.

Forbes told the committee she signed the agreement because she disapproved

of how the book was being edited, was frustrated with the process, and

wanted out. "She had washed her hands of the project, but had not forgiven

the misconduct," the report said.

Even if Asante had a legal right to list himself as sole author, he had a

professional responsibility to acknowledge Forbes' contribution, perhaps

with footnotes or a thank-you, committee members wrote. "As published,"

the report said, "the book misrepresents the source of its intellectual

content to the world."

The committee report -- based on interviews with Asante, Forbes, four

other faculty members, a student, and the book's publisher -- provides the

most detailed account yet of the controversy. A copy was obtained by The

Inquirer.

The panel's role was not to decide whether the complaint against Asante

was true, but to determine whether probable cause existed for a formal,

trial-like proceeding. Its conclusion: Yes.

Asante declined to be interviewed for this story. In interviews with the

committee, and with The Inquirer earlier this year, he said Forbes knew

from the start that he would be coauthor of the book. Forbes then

quarreled with the publisher over editing and ultimately abandoned the

project, leaving him to finish it, Asante said.

His own hard work on the book gave him the right to call himself "sole

author," he told the committee, even though Forbes was "legally" coauthor.

Liacouras said through a spokesman that he would not discuss the case.

Students angry that the faculty panel was overruled are planning a rally

tomorrow to demand that Liacouras explain his decision.

The textbook began appearing in high school and college classrooms last

year. It has been required reading for an African American studies course

at Temple.

Asante established the nation's first doctoral program in black studies at

Temple a decade ago. His resume lists about three dozen books. He has been

quoted in Newsweek and has appeared on Nightline as an expert on

Afrocentrism, a sometimes controversial branch of black studies that

places African influences front and center in the study of world history

and culture.

Five days before Liacouras' ruling, Asante said he would step down as

department chair come June. Temple officials have said the move was

unrelated to the inquiry.

In a letter to his department colleagues, Asante said he was stepping

aside to spend more time with his family, promote Afrocentrism, and

"defend my good name from defamation and false charges." He said he

planned to remain at Temple as a teacher and mentor.

Forbes, a former special-collections librarian at Lincoln University in

Chester County, was an Asante protege. He was her adviser when she was a

Temple graduate student, and he encouraged her to join the faculty after

she got her doctorate in 1991. In 1992, the two began collaborating on the

textbook.

In the spring of 1995, Forbes learned that she had been turned down for

tenure. In May of that year, she signed the agreement with the publisher

extricating herself from the book project.

A day after concluding those negotiations, she filed her complaint with

university officials, saying that Asante had improperly taken credit for

her work. She said that when she had questioned his conduct, he scotched

her chances for tenure, meaning that she would lose her teaching position.

(She was later rehired as an untenured faculty member.)

Asante asserted that Forbes signed away her authorship rights and that her

failure to get tenure resulted from a poor job review by an academic

panel. After that disappointment, he said, she sought revenge by accusing

him of stealing her work on the textbook.

The case was examined by three separate faculty panels. A four-member

preliminary committee unanimously recommended in July 1995 that Forbes'

complaint be formally investigated. A five-member "faculty responsibility

committee" then made a more detailed inquiry.

After comparing the finished book to Forbes' manuscript, that panel

reported in April that "the evidence overwhelmingly establishes a prima

facie case that Dr. Asante is guilty of the grave misconduct of

plagiarism."

That sent the case to the six-member Faculty Senate personnel committee,

which met behind closed doors over the summer and forwarded its report to

Liacouras on Oct. 7. It recommended that Asante be charged with grave

misconduct for misuse of his power as department chair, for

misrepresenting the authorship of African American History, and for

"misappropriating Dr. Forbes' work without her consent."

Had Liacouras agreed, the next step would have been for a hearing

committee to examine the evidence and make a ruling. Liacouras would have

had the final say on any disciplinary action.

Forbes told the personnel committee that Asante solicited her involvement

in the book project with the understanding that she would be the sole

credited author and he would be listed as "senior editor."

In mid-1993, the publisher, Peoples Publishing Group of Maywood, N.J.,

sent Forbes an advertising flier showing Asante and Forbes as coauthors,

she told the committee. She considered this a substantial change, Forbes

said, but she pressed on, turning in a 300-page manuscript. Forbes said

the publisher forced unreasonable changes and deadlines on her. On Nov. 4,

1994, a Drexel University colleague faxed Forbes an ad listing Asante as

sole author, she said.

By this point, she just wanted to get out of the project, she told the

committee. So she signed a contract amendment allowing Peoples Publishing

to use 30 percent of her original work and removing her name from the

finished product. In exchange, the publisher returned her manuscript to

her.

Asante told the committee that from the start, he and Forbes were supposed

to be coauthors, and everyone understood that. The work would have

appeared with both names, he said, if Forbes had not insisted that hers be

removed.

Asante said he created the outline for the book and edited Forbes'

manuscript. He also said that as her teacher, he was the source of many of

her ideas. The flier mentioning him as sole author was a mistake by the

publisher, he said.

Diane M. Miller, president of Peoples Publishing, appeared before the

faculty personnel committee. "Her testimony corroborated Dr. Asante's

version of the facts, insofar as they related to Dr. Forbes' contacts and

cooperation with the publisher," the report said.

The committee said there was probable cause to believe that Asante

"misappropriated Dr. Forbes' work long before she gave him permission to

publish it without listing her as coauthor."

A tribunal could find that "coauthorship was, essentially, forced on her,"

and that Asante later emerged as sole author "well before there was any

consultation... about this very substantial change," committee members

wrote. Forbes' agreement with the publisher, the committee said, did not

excuse Asante from an obligation to credit her. The panel interpreted the

contract amendment to mean the publisher could not identify Forbes as

editor, author or creator of the book. "It does not prohibit acknowledging

her early participation in the project, thanking her for her 'valuable

contributions,' or her insights... or acknowledgment of her Ph.D. thesis,

where that is appropriate," the report said.

"As published, the book misrepresents the source of its intellectual

content to the world and Dr. Forbes could not... give Dr. Asante

permission to make such a misrepresentation," the panel said. "Norms of

professional ethics, not Dr. Forbes, control in this situation."

According to Forbes, Asante told her at the start of their collaboration

that the textbook would count positively when she stood for tenure. When

the project soured, Forbes said, Asante spoiled her chance at tenure by

selecting professors friendly to him to serve on a four-member review

panel.

The panel split, 2-2, on whether to reappoint Forbes. Asante added his

recommendation against her, and sent the results to the dean. Forbes'

teaching contract was not renewed when it expired last summer. In

September, while the faculty committee was investigating her allegations

against Asante, university officials agreed to reappoint her.

Asante told the personnel committee that he had done nothing to prejudice

Forbes' chances for tenure and that she had been turned down "on the

merits."

The committee took a different view. It said that "there is considerable

evidence... that Dr. Asante used the powers of his office to affect his

business relationship with Dr. Forbes and let that failed business

relationship affect his actions as chair" when she came up for tenure. In

his ruling Oct. 22, Liacouras said the critical fact of the case was that

Forbes gave permission for 30 percent of her manuscript to be used "and

explicitly forbade any mention of her name."

Liacouras did not address the committee's other findings in detail.

Rather, he cited a clause in the "Faculty Guide" requiring professors to

seek approval from the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences whenever

undertaking outside work for pay.

The failure of Asante and Forbes to follow this procedure made the entire

inquiry into Asante's conduct invalid, Liacouras wrote.

William Woodward, a Temple law professor and chairman of the faculty

personnel committee, called Liacouras' ruling puzzling. "I just don't

understand the decision," he said when it was announced. "It's not

articulated in a way that joined the issues we raised in our report."

Woodward declined comment on the committee report, which he said was

leaked without his knowledge.

Forbes declined to discuss specifics of the case, other than to say she

was "not pleased with the president's action." Forbes will be reviewed for

tenure next academic year. Under her employment agreement with Temple,

Asante will play no role in that decision.

_________________________________________________________________