According to McCartney, in the past 30 years only about 20 percent of Ed School faculty have received tenure. In her open letter to the community released on Wednesday, she mentioned four professors that were hired to teach in the areas of diversity, equity, and social justice.

One of these professors, Meira Levinson, who researches the effect of race and class on the achievement gap, said in an emailed statement that “students are right to be concerned.”

Levinson added that she believes the school has already attempted to address these needs, especially in its search for another professor whose work is similar to Warren’s.

But Levinson also said that if Warren leaves, the school will suffer a loss.

“Mark is the leader in studies of community organizing and education,” she said. “It would not make sense for us to try to recruit his exact replacement.”

So far, Warren has not taken part in any of these demonstrations, but he said in an emailed statement that he was disappointed that he did not receive tenure.

“I believe that the work I do on community organizing makes an essential contribution to addressing the problems facing our public education system and I am disappointed that it does not have a place at Harvard,” he said. “I appreciate all the support I have received from students, scholars, and educators here at Harvard and across the country which I believe is testimony to the importance of this work.”

Mira said that the students hope Warren’s case will be moved to the provost and president’s offices to be appealed, and that she plans to participate in a future meeting with McCartney to discuss the issue.

—Staff writer Michelle M. Hu can be reached at michellehu@college.harvard.edu.