Queen Bees in an Apathetic Ecosystem of Higher Education Incivility

Abstract Using Freyd’s organizational betrayal theory, I examine the intersection of racism and sexism, which permeated my tenure and promotion process at a Research 2 Historically Black College and University. Further, I will describe the arduous process that embodies extensive unequal pay issues plaguing seven of the eight women in my department, as confirmed by publicly available salary databases. At the time of this writing, the matter still has not been resolved with this institution, which has failed to follow federal law, and which has not changed its policies which continue to favor men who, comparatively, produced a fraction of my productivity and that of other women in the department. Consequently, one might wonder about my ability to offer details about my experience. The university at the center of this debacle is a state school, and the state attorney general has proclaimed that this information is available through the Freedom of Information Act.