Students plan to sit-in outside the chancellor’s office for an hour Tuesday through Thursday, demanding the university resume a search for a professor who specializes in Africana philosophy and African-American philosophy.

Johnathan Flowers, a doctoral candidate in philosophy from Oak Park, said the administration can expect students to sit in for an hour outside the waiting room of the chancellor’s office starting at 9 a.m. each day until Thursday. About 20 students gathered for the first sit-in for this cause on April 18.

Flowers previously told the Daily Egyptian that the department has been trying to get a professor in this position for the last 10 years, and this is the first year the administration had approval to conduct a search and interview applicants.

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But Flowers, who is on the hiring committee, said the administration cancelled the search this month because they say the hire would not increase enrollment or the amount of students who declare the field as a major.

“To cancel it right before we were going to have on-campus interviews is suspicious at best, and an example of institutional racism at worst,” Flowers said.

He said the sit-ins this week will not be violent. 

The Daily Egyptian’s campus desk can be reached at 618-536-3325 or [email protected].