Two Black employees of Emporia State University in Kansas claim that they have been subjected to a racially hostile work environment. Angelica Hale has been working as a dean’s assistant at the university and her husband Melvin Hale is an assistant professor in the School of Library and Information Management
In April, some one had entered the office of Angelica Hale’s graduate assistant and left a racial slur on a piece of paper directed against her and her husband. When the Hales notified a university official, they claimed nothing was done. Melvin Hale then went to the university’s provost and filed a complaint with the local police. In an interview with the Associated Press, the couple alleged that they had been treated differently by university officials and other employees since filing the complaint with the police. Melvin Hale said that one official told him to “recognize that he was in Kansas now.”
Melvin Hale holds a master of library and information science degree and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Emporia State University enrolls about 6,100 students. Blacks are 5 percent of the undergraduate student body.
