Dr. Sydney Freeman Item Info
Dr. Sydney Freeman
Topics:
Sydney Freeman:
Interviewer:Please state your name and your title or role at UI.
SF:Sydney Freeman Jr., Associate Professor at the College of Education at the University of Idaho
IN:What is your ethnicity or race? Do you identify as African-American, African, Caribbean, etc.?
SF:African-American
IN:Where are you from?
SF:Camden, New Jersey. Lived, studied, taught at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama, completed grad school at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama.
IN:What brought you to UI?
SF:I had served as a director of a teaching and learning center at Tuskegee University in Alabama for 3 ½ years and I was producing a lot of research and I was encouraged by mentors and even by my current employer at the time that I may want to pursue a faculty position because I was producing so much. And I heard about this faculty opportunity from a mentor and I applied, interviewed, and got it. What was great is that I was able to get my wife’s faculty position negotiated and they supported me with everything I asked for.
IN:Have you had any previous experiences that you feel prepared you for UI?
SF:Auburn University (where I earned my graduate degrees) was a predominantly white institution, and I found myself having to accommodate them, as opposed to them having to accommodate me. That gave me some experience in navigating a primarily white campus. But then I also had the opposite experience because at Tuskegee it was a predominantly Black school. There would be white people there, but it was mainly Black.
IN:Was it a tough transition moving to Moscow since it’s predominantly white?
SF:Yes, so it was an interesting transition for me because in grad school I had gone to a predominantly white institution, and I had also taught there as an adjunct professor.
IN:Were you nervous to move here or about being here since it’s called the South of the North?
SF:Yes and no, I think I was nervous because I did not know anyone here. But because I had spent significant time in the south, I felt like I was able to navigate the anti-Black racism that I probably would encounter.
IN:Do you feel like you'll stay in this community for a long time? Why or why not?
SF:I truthfully am not sure how long I will stay, I think that because of the Trump presidency and of the way in which, the direction in which the community is going it’s becoming more and more conservative. Although there is a small Black community on campus, we often don't feel supported by the administration. And so, like for instance, I'm the only, or one of the only African-American male faculty members on campus. And so, that gets tiring, like after a while. There’s no support system, so I don't know how long this is sustainable.
IN:Did you bring family with you?
SF:She’s a faculty member in the WWAMI program which is our medical education program. She’s a clinical assistant professor.
IN:Have you built any strong relationships with any other black people or faculty at UI?
SF:The Dean makes sure that I’m supported, but my colleagues often give off a vibe to make me feel like, “He’s just like anybody else” attitude. So that is kind of interesting. So, I've learned that having friends outside of the university was important and I learned that having friends outside of my department and college were very important. I've learned that a lot of time because you're considered competing with your colleagues in your college, in some ways you can't always be as open, whereas when you have someone that’s not in your department and not in your college you can kind of share in more ways.
Because they’re not competing with you. One of the strongest relationships I’ve built while here was with a faculty member that is within the college, his name is Raymond Dixon. He has now become the Chair of the Curriculum & Instruction Department, but he was on my search committee.
IN:Have you had positive experiences related to your race at UI?
SF:Yeah, so I think mostly people have been really supportive. I think it’s been a double-edged sword because I think people aren't comfortable with race and so what’s easy for them to do is just to kind of talk about it and not even address it. And so, they would say, I treat Sydney just like everyone else. That can be positive and negative, right? On one end it could be well, I'm not being singled out. On the other hand, it doesn't take into context my unique background and challenges. Challenges that I may face, but I think overall that people have been supportive. I have people who when I got here they would cut my grass for free.
Just like really nice people. I think overall it’s been a really positive experience. But I do recognize that I did come in during the time that Obama was in office (arrived fall of 2015). It was a whole different vibe, so I often say that there were incentives to be inclusive and to be diverse because you had an environment that would invest in that. Now you have an environment that does not invest in that. Even people who are liberal, or whatever the case may be. That really shows you where their heart is. They’re not investing in it, if there’s no monetary investment, if there’s nothing they can get out of it. They don’t do it.
IN:Have you had negative experiences related to your race at UI?
SF:The tenure process. I just think that there is not the cultural consciousness about how race plays a factor in evaluation experiences. I know other African Americans on campus where there boss would say “How are you doing? I know these things are going on in the world, but I just wanted to check on you. How are you making out?” I don't feel like I have that, like in my environment I don't have that. So, I have to say it. I have to say, “This is messed up” and then people say “Yeah, yeah, yeah”. “We care about you” So for people to want to stay people have to be in an environment that says I care about you, enough to check on you, to see how you are doing in that regard. I think that your kind of on your own.
IN:Have you noticed any differences in people’s treatment of you since Donald Trump has been in office?
SF:Yes, people are even more reluctant to speak up about race. Particularly, anti-Black racism.
IN:What do feel you have contributed to your department at UI?
SF:I am the first African American to get tenure in my department. Then, I'm the highest producer of research in my department. My research focuses on the areas of leadership preparation in higher education, teaching preparation, faculty preparation for higher ed. I am the editor of The Journal for the Study of Post-Secondary and Tertiary Education.
IN:Do you bring anything different to the table?
SF:Yeah, I think one of the things I really bring to the table that’s not even a racial issue is that I come from a different part of the country so I come from New Jersey so I have a particular way of thinking. And then not just that, I spent 12 years in the South, so I bring that, a different lens. That informs the way in which I look at things. I also think that my age plays a significant role. I’m 34. I say that because all my colleagues are essentially they're in their forties, fifties, sixties. So my perspective is going to be different than those who have children, that have a decade or two on me.
So I may have more research output or certain other experiences, but the truth is that there are things I'm still learning. And it’s a lot of things you’re learning for the first time given age. So, they have that, then you mix that with race. One of the challenges often will have is that most things are what we call intersectional. So, there’s sometimes where you can isolate things just as race, but most times they intersect. How we deal with a situation is not just based on race, but it’s also intersected with gender, so I often say the truth is the way that you talk to me as a 34 year old professor is going to be different than if you had a 79 year old white woman who is a professor. Right? That’s just the truth.
We’re not saying there’s anything wrong with that. But we’re saying have to acknowledge that that’s the case, and I think we don’t acknowledge that. So, that’s why people get upset where if I were to grab something here and walk out the door, the way people would rush and try and get me is different than if I was 79 years old and I was an old lady and I was a klepto and I stole something, right? And so the truth is that we have to be honest about that. I think we’re not, we try to say we treat everyone the same and it’s not so.
- Title:
- Dr. Sydney Freeman
- Type:
- text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Preferred Citation:
- "Dr. Sydney Freeman", Black History at the University of Idaho, Black History Research Lab, University of Idaho
- Reference Link:
- https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/blackhistory/items/sydney_freeman.html
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