When he was asked if he was chosen, in part, because he is black, Mr. Middleton paused, drummed his fingers and clenched his jaw.
“That’s a complex question, and it’s reflective of the institutional racism that we are trying to get beyond,” he said. “I suspect that my color will be met with much criticism from parts of our community. I also suspect that my color was a factor in the judgment that I was the person, at this time, to take this position.”
An activist group, Concerned Student 1950, has demanded changes at the university, including a big increase in the number of black professors and staff members, and courses for staff members and students on racial awareness and inclusion.
Noting that he had been among the students who made similar demands in 1969, Mr. Middleton said that in his years in administration, “it was extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get the institution to devote the kinds of resources necessary to have a significant impact on this problem.”
Several student groups that have clashed with the administration endorsed Mr. Middleton’s appointment, but it remains to be seen what effect he will have on a campus deeply unsettled by violent threats, fear, racial tension, demonstrations, a student’s hunger strike over race relations, and related clashes over the role of free speech.
“One of the things impeding our ability to get beyond this problem is our inability to talk about it,” Mr. Middleton said.
“We’ve got to understand the ugly, ugly history that permeates everything we do in our institutions in this country,” he added.