The campus is invited to a free talk by a former U.S. college president and author who is fighting against rankism – when someone abuses their rank and makes somebody feel like a nobody.

Robert Fuller will talk in the Rozsa Centre on March 19 as part of this year’s Stop Racism/ March 21 events at the U of C.

Fuller previously taught physics at Columbia University and authored the classic text “Mathematics for Classical and Quantum Physics.” He also served as president of Oberlin College in Ohio.

When he left that post, Fuller witnessed his transition from a ‘somebody’ to a ‘nobody.’
Fuller is the author of the 2003 book “Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank.”

Fuller describes rankism as the “mother of all ‘isms’ ” – ageism, sexism, racism, anti-Semitism. Rankism is rampant in nearly every area of our lives. And when we fail to treat others with dignity, the consequences are dire, ranging from educational failure, to sexual abuse, corporate corruption and terrorism.

Fuller says democracy represents the first great limitation against rankism – nobodies successfully “ganging up” on a few somebodies and limiting their abuse of power.

“ But we’ve only just begun,” he says. “We need to extend the protections against rankism that democracy does provide in the civic realm to all our other social institutions, in many of which, rankism is still largely unchecked. Overcoming rankism is democracy’s next step.”
The Stop Racism/March 21 Committee is an ad hoc group of U of C volunteers composed

f students, staff and faculty with a common interest in actively addressing racism and discrimination in society.

The United Nations declared March 21 the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 1966, to commemorate the 1960 Sharpeville massacre in South Africa, where 69 anti-apartheid demonstrators were killed and as many as 300 were wounded by police.