Arantza Asali, who is currently pursuing the master’s program in gender studies founded by Dr. Kerr, said that “she never imagined that St. Andrews would administer this diploma, receive the praise and tuition money she earned and then do it” .
“The neglect of our education and the well-being of employees is unacceptable,” she wrote on Twitter.
Broader concerns about under-representation of women in the field of philosophy around the world have been raised many times in the past. And those who drew attention to the university’s decision not to renew Kerr’s contract point to the broader issues in its philosophy department.
According to the petition: As of this month, of the department’s 35 faculty and research members, only 12 are women; of these 12 women, only five have a permanent position (one of them part-time), two are visiting fellows, three are teaching fellows who do not work mainly for the university and two have temporary contracts, including Dr. Kerr.
The department’s 19 full-time employees include only four women, and no permanent junior position is held by a woman. Of the department’s 57 Ph.D. students, only 13 are women.
Academics from around the world have expressed their support for Dr. Kerr on social media.
“Absolutely shameful and part of a long list of layoffs of women and academics at BAME in recent years”, Dr. Camilla Mork Rostvik, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Leeds, posted on Twitter, using a common acronym in Britain for black, Asian and “ethnic minorities”.
“This is a profound injustice, as well as an incredible mistake”, wrote Jonathan Ichikawa, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia. “His work is exemplary and there is no one with the right experience to replace it.