On

June 23rd Dr. Mark George, adjunct professor for the Womens and Gender Studies program (WGST),
used his VSU email to send a letter to the Governor and General Assembly asking them to no longer
endorse, promote, and support Confederate holidays, events, and historic sites. Dr. Georges social
justice action was conducted on behalf of the Mary Turner Project (MTP) for which he is the
coordinator. MTP is an anti-racism organization that Dr. George and VSU students started while he was
a tenure track professor in the Sociology Department (2008).
During the week of July 16th I received a visit from Provost Dr. Rogers to talk about Dr. George. Dr.
Rogers said Dr. George had used state resources for political purposes and that was not allowed per
BOR policy. I explained the WGST program does social justice work per our programs and universitys
mission and the faculty identify as activist scholars. I stated that I send letters to the Governor and
other elected officials all the time concerning battered and sexually assaulted women. He said I could do
that as a private citizen using my g-mail account but not as the WGST director and I could not use
my VSU account --state resources for political purposes. I said WGST wouldnt be able to do any
social justice work (clothesline project, etc.) because everything we do is political.
In August I wrote a letter to President McKinney which resulted in a meeting. I told Dr. McKinney the
WGST program would not be able to do any social justice work (Clothesline project, etc.). He stated I
like what you do. I said if there is a policy stating that we cant use state resources for political
purposes and Dr. Georges anti-racism social justice action was not allowed the other WGST social
justice actions were just as political and could not be allowed either. I stated it would not be fair to allow
social justice actions which gain positive attention for the university and are politically correct but to
deny actions that are controversial and gain negative attention. I stated the only BOR policy that I could
find talked about political campaigning and endorsing candidates and had nothing to do with what Dr.
George did or what I do. He stated he would contact the BOR attorney to get the policy so we could
clarify what is allowed. I still have not received the policy.
On October 21st the Chief of Staff, Dr. Kimberly Luce, contacted me after she was contacted by a
Spectator reporter concerning the Clothesline Project. Dr. Luce contends that the two actions are
unrelated issues. They are not unrelated! They are BOTH political social justice actions. If one is
unacceptable per a policy then both are. The administration cannot have it both ways. If they say there
is a policy that prohibits the use of state resources for political purposes and warranted the actions
taken against Dr. George then they need to produce the policy.

Tracy Woodard, Ph.D.
Director, Womens and Gender Studies
Professor of Sociology