Rally Held Supporting Former CU Professor Claiming Discrimination Blocking Tenure

From right to left, CU students Olivia Bode, Shioka Dhar, Alana Adams and Sonia Reyes hold signs in support of Dr. Montoya

About 50 students and community members rallied on the CU Boulder campus on Friday afternoon in support of Dr. Lupita Montoya.

Listen to the report below:

Rally Held Supporting Former CU Professor Claiming Discrimination Blocking Tenure KGNU News

Last week on KGNU, Dr. Montoya shared her story of being denied tenure in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering despite having the support of her department chair, colleagues and peers in other universities. Dr. Montoya says her tenure was denied on the basis of bias and that her case was not reviewed appropriately.

Some CU Departments are more diverse than others considering Dr. Montoya is the only minority female ever evaluated for tenure in CU’s College of Engineering

City Council Member Mary Young, was present at Friday’s rally in support of Dr. Montoya.

“I’ve known about her story for a little over a year and I’m glad that it’s finally public and I’m here to support her in any way I can,” says Young.

Mateo Manuel Vela, co-chair of UMAS y Mexa told KGNU’s Rossana Longo that they were supporting Dr. Montoya to show solidarity with her as the first Latina on a tenure track for the college of engineering.

“Today is really just about showing our solidarity with Dr. Montoya, but also like trying to make those connections across schools and trying to bring to light that this is a systemic issue.”

Vela says, “The fact that this happened to her is not an isolated event and it says very much about the incongruence between what CU Boulder says that it values, which is inclusive excellence, and what it actually practices.”

Dr. Montoya has filed a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over her tenure denial.

The University of Colorado submitted the following statement to KGNU:

“Dr. Montoya received a fair opportunity to be considered for tenure. Those who considered her case did so fairly and without prejudice. The faculty committee found that any minor procedural flaws in her case did not affect the ultimate determination.”