By The Staff | The Save Jersey Blog
Kean University is no stranger to controversy in recent years, Save Jerseyans, but this latest set of allegations is a doozy.
In fact, State Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R-40) wants the New Jersey’s Attorney General to investigate the university’s hiring of a consultant, one reportedly with a criminal record per an investigative report from the Sunday’s Bergen Record.
Michael Barry Blackwell, a former Westwood pastor, was hired to investigate hiring and enrollment practices at the public college after allegations of racism roiled the campus community. The allegations originated with a controversial group of ministers; their allegations subsequently received the critical endorsement of State Senate President Steve Sweeney who nevertheless pushed for an independent review of the alleged “structural racism” by a firm connected to the South Jersey Machine.
The University nevertheless went their own way and, according to the paper, Blackwell’s qualifications for the job include convictions for domestic violence and writing a bad check. He was even indicted on federal charges for bank robbery at one point (later acquitted). The Record also reported that Blackwell lists a degree on his resume from an institution with no record of conferring the degree.
“Reading the report in the Record, I was stunned by the list of list of transgressions linked to Mr. Blackwell and shocked that university officials did not even undertake a rudimentary investigation into who they were hiring with taxpayer money,” said O’Toole, an attorney and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in a statement.
O’Toole responded by penning a letter to Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy requesting intervention and stating that “[i]t appears that basic hiring safeguards were either ignored or influenced to facilitate the hiring of Mr. Blackwell.”
“I think the public needs to know the facts behind the hiring of Mr. Blackwell and why he was chosen at this critical time in the university’s history,” O’Toole continued. “I also believe it is important to have your office look into the allegations of racial discrimination at the university that were raised by Black ministers from Essex County.”
Kean University receives over $30 million in direct state aid on an annual basis.
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It’s about time, disgrace!