The Human Stain | Characters & Character Analysis

The Human Stain Characters

Coleman Silk

Coleman Silk is a Classics professor at a small but prestigious college in Massachusetts, called Athena College. Coleman was a professor there for nearly thirty years when he left the classroom in order to be dean of faculty. Single-handedly Coleman took that little college and turned it around, putting it on the academic map and creating a situation that allowed the president of the college to be appointed to a larger, more prestigious university. Coleman instituted policies that encouraged his professors to continue their own educations and to publish their own works, which kept them from becoming lazy. Coleman also brought in younger, more hip professors who could relate to the students better than the older faculty. Coleman also broke the racial barriers by hiring more professors of various races.

After all his hard work for the college, Coleman decided he wanted to go back to the classroom before his...
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