Regarding the Suspension of the Tenure Process

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Dear Dr. Rehm and Dr. Owens,

Please let this note serve as an official expression of the judgment of the Misericordia University AAUP chapter regarding the recent announcement of the suspension of the tenure process effective immediately and extending for the next twenty months as stated in President Owens’ letter dated October 26, 2020 (See attached memo). Per the AAUP 1940 statement on Tenure:

Institutions of higher education are conducted for the common good and not to further the interest of either the individual teacher or the institution as a whole.² The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition.

Academic freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research. Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth. Academic freedom in its teaching aspect is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching and of the student to freedom in learning. It carries with it duties correlative with rights.³

Tenure is a means to certain ends; specifically: (1) freedom of teaching and research and of extramural activities, and (2) a sufficient degree of economic security to make the profession attractive to men and women of ability. Freedom and economic security, hence, tenure, are indispensable to the success of an institution in fulfilling its obligations to its students and to society.

The chapter regards the aforementioned Board Resolution as a direct attack on tenure at this institution and on higher education in general in our country, and by implication on the common good of its citizens. To make this perfectly clear, we hold that tenure is the sole protection for a faculty member to safely pursue and speak the truth as they see it, given their training and expertise. Without this protection faculty always run the risk of being dismissed without cause for simply doing their job. As a result, the pursuit of truth is clearly compromised by the Board’s Resolution, and in consequence, so is the very mission of the university.

In addition, the Chapter regards this resolution as a violation of the Faculty Handbook, and by extension as a violation of the university’s contract with its faculty. Specifically, the Board Resolution runs in direct violation of the policies and procedures clearly established for the review and decision of faculty tenure in section 4.7, and for the revision of Volume IV of the Policy Manual in 4.13.

Finally, the manner in which the resolution was reached and communicated to the faculty is a clear abrogation of shared governance. After months of good faith negotiations with Faculty Senate, and during which members of the Faculty Status Committee were charged by the VPAA with revising the process of application for tenure for the very same people whose tenure bids are now being denied by this resolution, the VPAA revealed in a meeting of the university’s department chairs on October 28, 2020, that he has known about this resolution throughout the period of negotiation mentioned. Many who have served this institution for decades have seen some low moments over that time, but the intentional exclusion of faculty from the governance process in a decision of this magnitude, amidst repeated claims of financial health and years of budget surpluses, ranks as the lowest of the low in our judgement and clearly testifies to the total lack of consideration this current administration has for its faculty, their voice, and their wellbeing.

We conclude by imploring you to reverse this decision as soon as possible for the good of all the stakeholders of the institution we have worked so hard to support: faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the community at large.

Sincerely,

The Executive Committee of the Misericordia University Chapter of the AAUP

Matthew Swanson
Marnie Hiester
Paula Pate-Schloder