Naropa University Suspends Black Religious Studies Professor

MDiv_Don-MatthewsDon Matthews, an associate professor of religious studies at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education alleging bias and racial discrimination in the treatment of Black faculty at the university.

To draw attention to the situation, Dr. Matthews held a silent protest during his classes where he would not speak but held a paper explaining his protest. He did answer student questions for the last 10 to 15 minutes of class, according to reports in the Boulder Daily Camera.

The university claimed that it received complaints from 30 students about Dr. Matthews over the past 18 months. As a result of this recent silent protest, the university suspended Dr. Matthews for the rest of the semester, with pay.

Dr. Matthews is the author of The Sexual Abuse of Power in the Black Church: Sexual Misconduct in the African American Churches (Westbow Press, 2012). Professor Matthews holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University. He earned a master of divinity degree from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, and a Ph.D. from the divinity school of the University of Chicago.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Dr. Matthews,

    Your article is similar to what I experienced at the University and the dean of my department, hand picked all white faculty , and white students, to write negatives about
    my behavior, which led to my dismissal from the University Of Cincinnati. I would like
    share more detail information.

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