On August 26, 2021, the Novi Library Board met. They did not address Mr. Cherukuri's offensive, anti-DEI posts or move to censure him or remove him as DEI Chair. There has been no response from Mayor Gatt.  At this meeting Trustee Tara Michener shared that she has made a formal complaint to President Crawford after Mr. Cherukuri repeatedly yelled at her, claiming his posts are not offensive and that she needs to "put on her big boy pants." 

A public comment was made by a community member as follows:

Although Trustee Cherukuri and some of our elected officials seem to find his social media posts amusing, I do not. This is not a case of Mr. Cherukuri making a post or two which were misunderstood. He clearly finds it humorous to make posts that are racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic. From Mr. Cherukuri’s response to Ms. Hinman (see library packet pg. 136 Novi Public Library Board of Trustees August 26, 2021 Agenda (novilibrary.org), Mr. Cherukuri seems focused on one particular post which featured Ellen Degenres’ disembodied head and the headline ELLEN LIKES BUSH! with no link to an article but Mr. Cherukuri’s comment “Best headline ever!” Even if I were to accept Mr. Cherukuri’s explanation for this post, there are numerous other posts that suggest that he is not committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and should not be chairing that committee. If Mayor Gatt supports this trustee’s appointment and President Crawford continues to support Mr. Cherukuri’s appointment to the DEI chair, I presume that means that they both are comfortable Mr. Cherukuri’s posts and comments which include a repost that refers to Stormy Daniels and reads, “I hope she didn’t swallow the evidence.” Or the comment in which Mr. Cherukuri calls Vice President Kamala Harris a “s k a n k.” If you did not go to high school in the 1990’s and are not familiar with this term, Mr. Cherukuri called our vice president a dirty s l u t. I can think of only one term that I would find more offensive when referring to a woman and I find this sort of talk demeaning whether you are referring to a porn star or an elected official. Mr. Cherukuri’s juvenile humor is not confined to insulting women, he is happy to post about Elliot Page, a transgender actor, while asking, “Are there two closets? If one closet inside the other closet? Do you come out of the closet twice?” A man who thinks the painful and potentially dangerous process of sharing one’s gender identity or sexual orientation publicly is funny has no business chairing a committee that is supposed to ensure that all our community members are welcome and safe at the public library. I fully support the 1st amendment and Mr. Cherukuri’s right to say things that I find repugnant. This does not mean that Mr. Cherukuri is exempt from public scrutiny as a public official. Nor does it mean that his words do not reflect on this board, on the library, and on Mayor Gatt’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

If you do not support a DEI chair who finds bigotry amusing, SIGN the petition and SHARE.