By Nora-Kathleen Berryhill
On The Edge Editor
Sept. 1, 2021
An Edgewood College tenured professor said today that she was fired before the start of the semester after requesting an accommodation from the college to teach online.
English Prof. Susan Rustick said that she has Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, and is not able to tolerate wearing a mask for any length of time per the college’s COVID-19 regulations.
Ed Taylor, Chief Communications Officer for the college, declined to comment on the situation. “To protect the privacy of employees the College cannot speak to individual personnel matters. The health and safety of the students, faculty, and staff of Edgewood College remains our top priority,” he wrote.
Taylor also stated that other faculty members who requested accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act had received accommodations.
After conversations about in-person accommodations stalled, Rustick said she received a letter dated Aug. 17, 2021, from Vice President for Academic Affairs Angela Salas who said Edgewood would not approve the request.
The letter stated that “because Edgewood promised its students an in-person experience, Edgewood has determined that it would be an undue burden to grant your request.”
In addition, Salas informed Rustick that “Edgewood will excuse you from all obligations under your appointment letter and considers it to be null and void.”
However, the letter also states that “Edgewood is not terminating your appointment.”
Rustick said her last paycheck arrived Aug. 28, with benefits ending yesterday, indicating to her that she had been, in effect, fired.
“The question I have is what is the difference between being terminated and having my contract declared null and void?” Rustick said she asked herself.
“If I had been terminated as a professor with tenure, the college would have needed a specific reason, as listed in the Faculty Handbook, and I would have received a year’s severance pay,” she added.
According to the handbook, there are five reasons for which a tenured faculty member at Edgewood can be terminated: “(a) financial exigency, (b) discontinuance of a program or school/department of instruction, (c) medical reasons, (d) lack of fitness of the faculty member in his professional capacity, and (e) moral turpitude.”
None of these, Rustick said, “are applicable in my case.”
The college offered Rustick two options that would waive the mask requirement for her when teaching. The first was placing her in a larger classroom to allow for more social distancing between her and her students. The second was the installation of a large plexiglass barrier.
Rustick said she was concerned that these options wouldn’t effectively prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the classroom.
While the college has reiterated its commitment to in-person instruction this fall, it has remained unclear whether faculty are able to teach remotely under any circumstances. This comes in wake of a similar conversation at UW-Madison over what possible exemptions from in-person teaching exist.
Rustick was also part of a group of seven faculty members who were let go for unclear reasons in May of 2020. After the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and Academic Rank Committee urged the college to reinstate them, some professors returned to teach, including Rustick.
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