The Ark of the Ontological Covenant: Anti-Blackness & the University

Abstract This text, like many, accepts that the academy (and more specifically the PWI) is rife with an enduring phenomenon found to continuously bedevil Black faculty. However, unlike other investigations this text uniquely identifies and articulates that that which plagues Black faculty can be described as religious in nature and can be read through somewhat of a religious lens. Most salient, this text asserts that what plagues Black faculty is this: The PWI operates as a house of worship, a distinctly cloaked church of the state that perpetuates the state’s official religion. This official religion is the religion of anti-Blackness that holds in its bosom a covenant between men (those who are not Black). Within Gothic architectural structures, this pillar of society (the academy) preaches its gospel, and everyone—from students to faculty—plays a designated role in the unfolding of this perpetual anti-Black religious crusade.