[NYTr] Academic Freedom: AAUP v Father Holtschneider of DePaul

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Tim Murphy (activ-l) - Aug 1, 2007


A.A.U.P. Illinois Conference Letter to DePaul University on the
Finkelstein-Larudee Tenure Cases

The Illinois Conference of the American Association of University
Professors has sent this letter to DePaul University concerning the
tenure-denial cases of Professors Norman G. Finkelstein and Marulee
Larudee. The primary mission of A.A.U.P. is to protect academic freedom
and maintain the tenure system which is essential for the advancement
of education in the United States.

07.22.2007 | Peter N. Kirstein's Blog

The Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., Ed.D.
President DePaul University
1 E. Jackson
Chicago, Illinois 60604

The Illinois Conference of the American Association of University
Professors is deeply concerned about the implications of the denial of
tenure and promotion in the cases of Norman G. Finkelstein (Political
Science) and Mehrene Larudee (International Studies). Dr. Finkelstein,
an internationally known scholar on the Middle East and the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, was recommended by his department and the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Personnel Committee. Dr. Larudee
received recommendations for tenure and promotion from her department,
college-wide personnel committee and Dean Chuck Suchar.

We assert that your reasons for denial of tenure to Dr. Finkelstein
violate the standards of the A.A.U.P., and those of DePaul's own
Faculty Handbook. Your letter of denial of tenure to Dr. Finkelstein,
which sustained the 4-3 vote of denial of tenure from the University
Board on Promotion and Tenure, focused on the topic of tone and
collegiality as evidenced in his writings.

There are also issues related to due process that appear not to have
been adhered to in either Dr. Finkelstein's or Dr. Larudee's case.
DePaul's rules require allowing a candidate to be not only informed of
each decision during the tenure-review process, but also to respond to
any negative vote. These likely due process violations of your own
regulations are significant if they denied these candidates all due
transparency and the right of response.

In particular, we object to the reasoning of the University Board on
Promotion and Tenure (U.B.P.T.) which you quote in your June 8, 2007
letter to Dr. Finkelstein. The U.B.P.T. acknowledges Dr. Finkelstein's
abilities as a teacher and a scholar, which would normally be more than
sufficient to justify tenure. The sole basis of denying tenure, it
appears, is the "collegiality" criterion that is invoked, calling Dr.
Finkelstein's work "deliberately hurtful" and denouncing him for his
"inflammatory style" and "personal attacks" in his writings. The
U.B.P.T. declares that these issues are "relevant" because "an
academic's reputation is intrinsically tied to the institution of which
he or she is affiliated." It is entirely illegitimate for a university
to deny tenure to a professor out of fear that his published research,
including those that appear under the University of California Press,
might hurt a college's reputation. Please recall the seminal A.A.U.P.
1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure affirms
"teachers are entitled to full freedom in research and the publication
of its results."

All of these reasons are unsustainable in considering tenure, and
threaten academic freedom. Neither A.A.U.P. standards nor DePaul's
guidelines allow for "collegiality" to justify a tenure denial. Nor is
there any prohibition on alleged "personal attacks" in the writings of
scholars. These kind of criteria fall under the category of
"collegiality," that the A.A.U.P. explicitly rejected in its 1999
statement "On Collegiality as a Criterion for Faculty Evaluation." As
that statement observed, "Historically, "collegiality" has not
infrequently been associated with ensuring homogeneity, and hence with
practices that exclude persons on the basis of their differences from a
perceived norm.Certainly a college or university replete with genial
Babbitts is not the place to which society is likely to look for
leadership."

The June 2006 report of DePaul University's Promotion and Tenure Policy
Committee affirms the above assertion in Section W, "The Role of
Collegiality:" "The Faculty Handbook does not incorporate collegiality
as a criterion in promotion and tenure reviews." Its "Recommendation:"
"Collegiality should not be a factor in a candidate's promotion and
tenure review or report."

You wrote to Professor Finkelstein: "as the American Association of
University Professors has recognized, all professors have basic
obligations, as colleagues in the community of scholars: (1) to 'not
discriminate against or harass colleagues,' (2) to 'respect and defend
the free inquiry of associates,' (3) to 'show due respect for the
opinions of others,' and (4) to 'acknowledge academic debt and strive
to be objective in their professional judgment of colleagues.'"

You misconstrue the A.A.U.P.'s Statement on Professional Ethics. These
are statements of professional ideals that ideally all scholars would
adhere to. These are not enforceable rules to be imposed, in the form
of sanctions, on faculty in the tenure process particularly when they
are gratuitously applied to monographs and other forms of published
research. It is disturbing that you charge Dr. Finkelstein with
"unprofessional" misconduct in his writings without even acknowledging
the explicit rejection of this charge in the comprehensive report of
the Department of Political Science Personnel Committee of November 1,
2006.

While we appreciate your claim that it would be "mistaken" to assume
that external parties that "lobbied" DePaul impacted the decision, it
appears likely that Professor Finkelstein was denied tenure, at least
in part, due to the controversy generated by his publications and the
extraordinary public-media blitz campaign that was waged by Professor
Alan M. Dershowitz, Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard.
Interpretive Comment #2, which is part of the 1940 statement as revised
in 1970 affirms: "Controversy is at the heart of the free academic
inquiry which the entire [1940] statement is designed to foster."

We respectfully ask you to reverse your decision of June 8, 2007 and
grant tenure and promotion to Dr. Finkelstein. We are also deeply
concerned about the denying of tenure to Dr. Larudee, who openly
supported the academic freedom of Dr. Finkelstein. Such a decision
would strengthen academic freedom, restore the reputation of DePaul
University as a defender of this precious right, and send a resounding
message across academia, that due process, the internal sovereignty of
a university's review process and academic freedom shall be preserved
and safeguarded.

Sincerely,

Leo Welch
President,
AAUP-Illinois Conference 

                               **

DePaul University President Holtschneider Responds to Illinois A.A.U.P.
Conference Re: Finkelstein and Larudee Acadmic Freedom Tenure Cases

07.26.2007 | Peter N. Kirstein's Blog

The Illinois Conference of the American Association of University
Professors submitted this letter to the DePaul University president on
June 23, 2007. The letter strongly criticised the decision of DePaul to
deny tenure to Professors Norman G. Finkelstein and Mehrene Larudee.
The letter expressed significant concerns about violations of academic
freedom, the emphasis on collegiality in the case of Dr. Norman
Finkelstein and the unwarranted intrusion of external parties
attempting to influence DePaul's promotion and tenure-review process.
Full disclosure requires I indicate I serve on the Illinois A.A.U.P.
council as an at-large member and will become Vice President in
September. This is the website of the A.A.U.P. Illinois Conference. I
received a FAX of the letter and copied it word-for-word onto this
webpage.

July 12, 2007 

Dr. Leo Welch
President
AAUP Illinois Conference
2500 Carlyle Avenue
Belleville, Illinois 62261

Dear Dr. Welch:

I am writing to respond to your letter dated June 22, 2007 regarding
DePaul University's decision to deny tenure to Drs. Norman Finkelstein
and Mehrene Larudee.

I respectfully disagree with the assertions in your letter. I personally
reviewed both Dr. Finkelstein's and Dr. Larudee's tenure files at the
conclusion of the faculty review process. I am confident that the only
criteria considered by DePaul in deciding these cases were the
applicants' scholarship, service, and teaching. The record reflects
that DePaul honored all the standards and processes set forth in
DePaul's Faculty Handbook, as well as the standards established by the
AAUP. There is no evidence in the record that either applicant's
academic freedom was compromised by the tenure review process, or that
outside influences played any role in the outcome of these cases.

Because our decisions on tenure are personnel matters, I cannot discuss
these decisions with you in any more detail. You obviously have
reviewed my letter to Dr. Finkelstein, which he posted on his website.
I will let that letter speak for itself. But as you can see, my letter
and the decision of the University Board on Promotion and Tenure
neither mention collegiality nor rely on it as a basis for denying
tenure.

I respect the seriousness of your letter and appreciate the hard work
that you and the AAUP do on behalf of your faculty colleagues. However,
we will have to agree to disagree on this matter. I will not reverse
the faculty recommendation, through the University Board on Promotion
and Tenure, to deny tenure to Drs. Finkelstein and Larudee.

Sincerely,

(Rev.) Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M.