GREENVILLE - The local NAACP chapter says it received a number of
racial discrimination complaints at Greenville Technical College following
the resignation of a former administrator who referred to children of
hurricane evacuees as "yard apes."
The Greenville branch of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People issued a report Wednesday claiming "racial polarization
and discrimination" at the college but didn't release any specific
allegations.
The chairman of the college's newly formed diversity committee said the
school is looking at the report. Dr. Bob Wilson also said the college
ranks high in compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity guidelines.
"We're quite happy to listen to any grievances because Greenville Tech
wants to serve all the citizens here in the community," said Wilson, who
also is a member of a commission that governs the college.
NAACP branch President Paul Guy said he has discussed specific
discrimination cases with school president Tom Barton. The complaints came
after former associate vice president Renee Holcombe left in September.
Holcombe, who has sued the college to get her job back, said the remark
was meant to be a humorous reference to rowdy children without any racial
distinction.
"After conducting several interviews and weeks of analyzing data
supplied by the college, it is the opinion of the NAACP that there are
several root causes of the racial polarization and discrimination found on
campus," the report said. "These root causes are lack of minority hiring,
lack of minority promotions, and lack of minority visibility in upper
management."
The civil rights group recommended the school hire a diversity
consultant within 10 days, immediately appoint a vice president for
diversity and promote qualified blacks to existing open positions within
the next three months.
Guy said the college has no minority vice presidents and follows a
pattern of "good old boyism" in promotions.
"They can keep printing all the statistics they want, but they have a
situation on the Greenville Tech campus that needs to be resolved," Guy
said.