By Abiola Olawale
Peyi Soyinka-Airewele, a daughter of the first Nobel Laureate in Literature from Africa, Prof Wole Soyinka, has raised serious concern over death threats she said she has been receiving in the past few days.
Soyinka-Airewele, who is also the first black woman to be promoted to full professor at Ithaca College, a university in New York, explained how she has been subjected to several racist situations.
She said she had been subjected to a “barrage” of racist and violent messages, including threats of sexual assault and assassination.
Soyinka-Airewele, in a statement made available to the press, said the problem began in 2024 when a student started “exhibiting erratic, harassing and threatening behaviour towards her.”
She said she escalated the situation to the management of the University, but her complaints were met with “bureaucratic roadblocks, lack of empathy and a denial of simple requests to change the methodology of delivery of lectures to enhance her safety and security.”
The statement reads in part: “The response of some of the top management of the University has been slow, negligent, dismissive and patronizing, resulting in a prioritisation of institutional convenience over and above the well-being of faculty.”
In her statement, Mrs Soyinka-Airewele said despite the odds, she has continued to work to protect other marginalised and vulnerable individuals in the United States as well as in Nigeria and to provide material support for those suffering from poverty and abuse.
The New Diplomat reports that Soyinka-Airewele is the first black woman to be tenured at Ithaca College, New York, and later, the first black woman to be promoted to the rank of a full professor in the university’s 140-year history.
She had served as the first female president of the Association of Third World Studies Inc. (ATWS), and president of the African Studies and Research Forum, and currently serves as Co-President of the African Women’s Initiative of Ithaca (AWI).
