On The Edge News

By Anna Hansen

Edgewood College’s Academic Rank Committee (ARC) says the college was wrong in firing four faculty members, three tenured and one tenure track, on May 27.

The firings were the latest move in the college’s attempt to reduce its budget deficit. The June 19 review has now moved on to the college’s board for consideration. In a June 24 email, the board informed the Academic Rank Committee of their formation of an ad hoc committee, charged with advising the Board’s executive committee in the process of its review.

The ad hoc committee will consist of the following members:

• Becky Splitt: Chair of Institutional Mission Council 
• Jeff Bartell: Educational Policy sub-committee 
• Kevin Hayden: Chair of Committee on Trustees/Board Governance 
• Cynthia Rolling, Ph.D.: Professor Emerita, Department of Social Science, former faculty representative to the Edgewood College Board of Trustees 
• Darrell Behnke: Incoming Chair Board of Trustees 
• Lucy Keane: Outgoing Chair Board of Trustees 

Affected faculty members were originally set to remain employed by the college until June 30, per President Manion’s interest in giving the board ample time to review the cases. However, the board is set to make their decision by July 7, further extending the employment of those pursuing appeals.

The ARC is responsible for overseeing proceedings regarding academic tenure at Edgewood.

President Manion told OTE he had no comment on the matter.

In its review, requested by four of the seven faculty members fired May 27, the ARC decided that Edgewood had not:

“Adequately established or communicated the financial need to involuntarily eliminate tenured and tenure-track faculty positions.”

“Exhausted alternative options” or “explored alternate employment options for affected faculty” as per the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) guidelines.

Adequately substantiated claims that some faculty were “repeatedly underloaded” in terms of course instruction.

In its June 19 review, the ARC said “not only could these faculty members serve the College in these various roles to ensure they would not lose their employment at the College as tenured/tenure-track faculty members, but none of these other potential areas of employment were adequately explored, nor were their department heads questioned to find out what additional expertise these individuals have.”

The ARC review said concerns among Edgewood students and faculty have risen following the terminations, which could be a detriment to students in affected departments. 

“The College is now challenged in finding faculty to teach courses and students from affected programs,” said the reviewFaculty members said they were also concerned about student wellbeing.

When Communication Studies professor Bonnie Sierlecki was notified that her position had been eliminated, she said her biggest concern was the 170-person Honors Program.

“I already was worried about the promises made to these students because I never got any answers about the future of the program,” said Sierlecki. “Additionally, the Honors Program works closely with Student Research, which may or may not exist anymore, and there is no longer a director of Undergraduate Research.

“No one in administration who made the decision to eliminate my position ever asked about the status of the program – and no one has asked since.”

Sierlecki also said she was concerned about her COMMS 201 course scheduled for fall, required for all communication studies majors and minors. “The department does not have anyone else qualified to teach it,” she said.

Sierlecki added, “how does it help students to wonder whether there will be qualified faculty available to teach the classes they are paying for?”

As part of its review. the ARC challenged the “financial exigency” clause that the college used to justify the firings.

“Even in the notices from the College to the impacted faculty members addressing their position eliminations, never once are the words ‘financial exigency’ used,” said the review.

“If the College is indeed declaring financial exigency,” said the review, “AAUP guidelines state that it must then justify pursuing projects that require significant capital expenditures (building of soccer/lacrosse fields at Reddan Soccer Park, for example) at the same time that it is eliminating the positions of tenured and tenure-track faculty. The College has not satisfactorily made such justification.”

“As the faculty released came from areas of study that were ‘prospering’ in majors and ‘performing efficiently,’ the motives behind these firings are Edgewood’s decisions on filling the spaces left in the wake of the terminations is another concern,” the review said.

The review found that Edgewood’s intent to replace those terminated with adjuncts and lecturers may be a violation of the faculty association by-laws, as well as “ethically indefensible.”

“The College has argued that filling tenured and tenure-track positions with adjuncts/lecturers is not a violation of this clause of the by-laws; this committee finds that argument both legally and ethically questionable.

“Ultimately,” said the ARC, “these four faculty members have served with an unfailing commitment to the College and in return, the College showed insufficient effort towards finding potential alternate areas of employment for them.”

“The four aforementioned faculty are long-standing members of our College community, with extensive interdisciplinary expertise. We are concerned that these faculty were released from their positions without adequate consideration of their continuing contributions to disciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching, their scholarly work, and their service to our governance and academic programs.”

Many of the findings of the ARC’s review concurred with those in the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) review.

The ARC said it understood the financial position facing the college. “But actions such as these which are contrary to the Faculty Association by-laws open the college community to the potential for damaging and expensive consequences and may adversely impact the College’s mission to serve the students.”