Hungry for Answers

Feb. 5, 2007 — -- Corn Chex and a bagel might be an odd choice for a final meal, but that's the last thing MIT professor James Sherley intends to eat before embarking on a hunger strike today outside the offices of MIT President Susan Hockfield and Provost Rafael Reif.

"It's not a hunger strike for tenure," Sherley said. "It's about the reasons I didn't get tenure and the reason is…is that people are practicing racism. My physician says I can probably last about three weeks, so I'm going to keep going as long as I'm able."

Sherley, an associate professor of biological engineering, has been at MIT since 1998. He went to Harvard for his undergraduate degree and received both his Ph.D. and M.D. from Johns Hopkins. During his years at MIT, he has won a host of accolades, including a $2.5 million grant from the National Institute of Health.

Nevertheless, Sherley learned in 2005 that he would not be granted tenure and he has been fighting the decision ever since. Rather than file a lawsuit, Sherley has opted to starve himself. "People who are just unhappy and disgruntled don't do this. This is about principle."

Sherley points to a host of troubling issues in his case. He claims lab space was withheld from him; colleagues were advised not to collaborate with him; and that his tenure review and grievance process have been riddled with conflicts of interest.

In Sherley's view, this second-class treatment would never have been directed at a white colleague.

And then there's his position on embryonic stem cell research. Sherley works with adult stem cells, but he has been quite vocal about his opposition to embryonic stem cell research, a method he considers both immoral and scientifically unsound. It's a position that Sherley said is "unpopular" at MIT.

Over 200 people have signed a petition on Sherley's behalf, including Laura Jacox, one of his students. "His case was handled unfairly regardless of the reason," Jacox said. "A lot of the evidence has not been exposed."

Most recently, a group of sympathetic faculty, including MIT luminary Noam Chomsky, released a six-page letter asking MIT officials to review the "grievance process" in Sherley's case.