Who is Rev. Earl Thomas Teasley?

In his own words, from his Zoom Info page:

I currently serve on the faculty of Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, New Jersey, teaching college success seminars, psychology and sociology courses and counseling students on academic, personal, transfer, and career matters. I have previously held positions as director of recruitment and admissions at the College of Staten Island/CUNY, director of admissions and enrollment management at Burlington County College, in addition to administrative, counseling and teaching positions with Essex County College, New York Institute of Technology, Prep for Prep of New York and Monmouth University. As someone with an entrepreneurial spirit also, I spent four years between 2000 and 2004, serving as Chair and Managing Partner of Anderson Teasley Enterprises, LLC, managing one of the busiest restaurants in the Rutgers University – Greater New Brunswick community. I am also a licensed New Jersey Real Estate Salesperson with Critelli & Kilbride Realtors in Holmdel, New Jersey, and, in the past, have been particularly successful in utilizing my counseling skills to help first time homebuyers. Now entrenched in the Monmouth County, New Jersey community, I grew up in southern New Jersey’s Winslow Township, where I graduated early from Edgewood Regional Senior High School after completing only the eleventh grade. This period saw the beginning of my entrepreneurial spirit and steadfast determination, as I saved money for college by tutoring students, mowing lawns, and singing and playing the piano for my church. After high school, I attended Pomona College in Claremont, California, where I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in classical languages and literature, and later completed a Master of Arts degree in student personnel administration and counseling at Columbia University’s Teachers College in New York City. Subsequently, I completed a continuing education program in college admissions and enrollment planning at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.Over the years, I have proudly served as a former chair of the New York Urban League’s Staten Island Advisory Board and board director of the organization’s Central Board, Executive Board member and Professional Development Committee chair of the New York State Association for College Admissions Counseling, president of the Burlington County School Counselors Association, president of the Burlington County College administrative senate, chair of the Pomona College Reunion Fund Committee, and an officer of the Brookdale Community College Faculty Association. Proudly, I am presently one of the two faculty representatives to the Brookdale Community College Steering Committee, the overseeing governance organization of the institution. Most recently, I was elected Chair of the Monmouth County Human Relations Commission, reporting to the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders, for a term that will span between 2007 and 2009. As a commissioner, I specifically represent the interests and needs of the county’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Questioning community, and serve on the Commission’s Police and Community Relations Core Team. Ostensibly, my past and current experiences and activities are representative of my true self—achieving, motivated, dedicated, leading caregiver.

The Earl (also his own words) is on the faculty at Brookdale Community College, is a realtor and for $250-$500 he will officiate at your wedding. He used to run a restaurant near Rutgers.

He has a masters degree in Student Personnel Administration from Columbia University's Teachers College, was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the NAACP in 2004, and received a Certificate of Special Recognition from the U.S House of Representatives in 2004. He was recognized as a Higher Education Activist by the National Education Association's Emerging Leader Academy in 2006.

He is also Chairman of the Monmouth County Human Rights Commission.

Why my sudden interest in The Earl? Because he is alleging racial bias in the hiring practices of Brookdale Community College.

According to a report in the Asbury Park Press Teasley raised the racial make up of recent high paying administrative hires and the non-promotion and possible dismissal of a black Brookdale employee at the college's Board of Trustees meeting this week.

The employee who wasn't promoted and who received a notice of non-renewal, Cheryl Lonon of Wall Township, was quoted in the APP as saying, "Race matters in America, whether it's a positive thing or negative thing, it matters. I think it matters in my case."

Race shouldn't matter. It still does, but to a much lesser extent than it used to. If race was a factor in determining which administrators were hired at Brookdale or if it was a factor in Lonon's employment status, those decisions should be reversed and those responsible should be retrained or dismissed.

However, the Monmouth County Human Rights Commission should not have a say in this process. Teasley's activism in this matter and his status as a faculty member at Brookdage contaminates the Human Rights Commission's objectivity in the matter. Even if he were to recuse himself from any commission hearings on the matter, his status as chairman of the commission makes it impossible for the body to adjudicate the matter objectively.

The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders should appoint an independent panel to investigate these allegations and arbitrate the matter before it gets out of hand.

Additionally, the purpose and scope of the Human Rights Commission should be examined and better defined. The mission and policy of the commission, per their website, is as follows: (emphasis added)

MISSION STATEMENT

To convene Monmouth County’s leadership representing the Government, Law Enforcement, Clergy, Community, Corporate and Educational sectors of the County to:

Enhance human relations throughout Monmouth County and address issues that may arise in a diverse environment through pro-active measures.

POLICY STATEMENT

Whenever and wherever in Monmouth County actions are taken, words are printed or spoken, pictures and graffiti are drawn that encourage bigotry, bias, or hatred and cause fear and anxiety in any group, the Monmouth County Human Relations Commission should respond as circumstances warrant. The chairperson, together with the other officers and/or the Executive Committee, should consider all pertinent details and determine the best course of action. Any response should offer criticism of the incident and emphasize constructive suggestions on how relationships among the many communities of our multi-cultural society can be improved. Furthermore, the resources of Monmouth County’s Human Relations Commission should be offered.

The mission and policy of the commission as written qualifies the body as a kangaroo court. The commission is empowered to legislate, prosecute and adjudicate. The "accused" has little chance of due process before such a commission. The pro-active measures, warranting circumstances, criticism and constructive suggestions are not defined. Nor are the resources of the commission.

In this case, The Earl, chairman of the commission, has skin in the game. Such a blatant conflict can not be allowed to continue. The risk is that the Commission will be a laughing stock at best. At worst, improving racial relations could be set back rather than enhanced.