The executive secretary of the Gambia’s truth commission, Dr. Baba Galleh Jallow, last week resigned from his teaching job at La Salle University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Until his resignation, Dr. Jallow was an assistant professor of African and World history at La Salle.
Prior to joining the La Salle faculty in 2015, Dr. Jallow taught African history and was director of the African Studies Program at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
Upon his invitation to come home and serve as Executive Secretary of the TRRC back in the fall of 2017, Dr. Jallow sought and was granted a two-year leave of absence by La Salle University to enable him to take up the position.
However, in a recent communication, the University explained that it would not be able to extend Dr. Jallow’s leave of absence beyond fall (September) 2020 when it expires.
Part of Dr. Jallow’s letter of resignation to La Salle University’s Dean of Arts and Sciences reads: “As per the terms of my leave of absence, I was supposed to return to La Salle University in fall 2020.However, due to the fact that my work here requires at least an additional year of service to The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, I will not be in a position to do so. For that reason, and because you have indicated in a recent email that my leave will not be extended . . . please allow me to tender my resignation from my teaching position at La Salle University’s Department of History and the School of Arts and Sciences with immediate effect. . . . Please also allow me to extend my very sincere gratitude to La Salle University and in particular my colleagues at the Department of History for all the kind support they have rendered me during my period at the University.”
Dr. Jallow says while he will miss La Salle University, he has no regrets at all over his resignation.
“In the absence of an extension of my leave, there really is no other option for me. I can’t leave the TRRC to resume my teaching at La Salle at this point. I also perfectly understand that the university needs to move on with hiring another full time African history professor. And so I am happy to resign and concentrate on completing the national assignment entrusted to me to the best of my ability. No regrets at all.”
