NOW Charges Bias Against Minorities At Boston State

The National Organization for Women (NOW) filed sex and race discrimination charges Monday against Boston State College, a NOW spokesman announced at a State House press conference yesterday.

The class action complaints allege a pattern and practice of racism and sexism in hiring, salary, benefits, promotion, tenure and use of facilities at Boston State.

NOW lodged its complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance, the Office of Civil Rights and the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor.

Janet Stone, a member of NOW's Academic Task Force, said yesterday that out of a total faculty of 329 at Boston State, only six are blacks, and three of those six are consigned to the Afro-American Studies Department.

"That is pure tokenism," Stone said.

"Males teaching at Boston State earned $1510 more than their female counterparts in 1973. That is blatant sex discrimination," she added.

Though the college is located in Roxbury, minorities comprise only 10 to 12 per cent of the student body and 2 per cent of the faculty, Stone said.

Pharnal Longus, assistant professor of Afro-American Studies at Boston State, said yesterday the college "has even hired foreign-born blacks to avoid hiring native blacks, a violation of its affirmative action agreements."

Women make up only 29 per cent of the faculty, and 67 per cent of these women hold untenured positions, Stone said. Boston State, originally a teacher's college with an all-female faculty and student body, "has discriminated against women at all levels since it first admitted men in the 1950s," she said.

President Won't Comment

President Kermit Morrissey refused to answer NOW's specific charges yesterday. Morrissey said Boston State is "very close" to its goal of salary equity, and promised future documentation "that will show that we are equal employers."

NOW's complaints include race as well as sex discrimination charges because they represent a "refusal of the two 'out' groups to fight over the same crumbs," Stone said. "The beneficiary of any lack of cooperation between women and minorities is the white male."