Jennifer R. Warren Ph.D, CTSS, is an outstanding professor in the Department of Communication at Rutgers University. Her research focuses on interdisciplinary health communication strategies and health literacy within the African American community. Academically, she has amassed 25 publications, 18 of which are peer reviewed journal publications. Not only has she excelled at higher academia, but she has also mentored both graduate and undergraduate students at Rutgers University.

For a woman of such high caliber, her tenure review should have only been a formality. Instead, Rutgers University, an institution that claims to be at the forefront of diversity, denied her tenure based on student evaluations that are by default, biased and unreliable. Within her department and her school, The School of Information and Communication, there are no tenured Black professors. This school has about 50 tenured and tenure track professors, and only ONE tenured professor of color, who is not Black. University wide, only 4.2% of all tenure and tenured track faculty are black. With Revolutionary 250 upon us, one would expect that the talk of diversity and progress would be more than lip service. 

We are in an age where Black lives are constantly being marginalized, diminished, and told that they do not matter. Professor Warren's research is critical to changing the state of African Americans across the country. By denying her tenure, Rutgers University says that they do not care about Black lives.

As such, Black Lives Matter Rutgers demands that Rutgers University immediately grant Jennifer Warren her overdue and long deserved tenure, and make the first steps towards getting rid of institutionalized racism. Should the University deny us our request, Black Lives Matter Rutgers will be forced to take further action.