Developments relating to censure by the Association

Academe, May/Jun 1998 by Kurland, Jordan E

Members of the Association's staff, acting on behalf of Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, communicate during the course of each year with administrations under censure. The staff offers its assistance and that of Committee A in bringing about developments at the institution that would enable the committee to recommend to the annual meeting that the censure be removed. A summary of developments at institutions on the list of censured administrations appears annually in the issue of Academe (prior to 1979, the AA UP Bulletin) that immediately precedes the annual meeting.

The statements that follow, in chronological order according to the date of imposition of censure, constitute my appraisal of developments at the listed institutions for the year through April 1, 1998. Relevant actions of significance that occur after April 1 will be reported to Committee A, the Council, and the Eighty-fourth Annual Meeting at the sessions of these bodies in June. The list of censured administrations, appearing elsewhere in this issue, cites the published reports that were the basis for the censure in each case.

-JORDAN E. KURLAND Associate General Secretary

Grove City College (Pennsylvania)

The Forty-ninth Annual Meeting in 1963 voted to censure the administration of Grove City College following an investigating committee's report on the dismissal of an experienced professor who was denied the opportunity for a hearing and other safeguards of academic due process.

Once again this past year, there has been no answer from the administration of Grove City College to the Association staff's invitations to initiate discussion.

Amarillo College (Texas)

In 1968, the Fifty-fourth Annual Meeting imposed censure on the Amarillo College administration for having acted summarily in suspending a senior faculty member and ultimately dismissing her. The investigating committee's report concluded that these actions violated the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure and the college's own regulations.

In November 1996, the college president informed the AAUP staff that he would be back in touch "just as soon as possible" after the completion of revisions to the institution's policy manual. The staff reminded him of this in December 1997 but has received no further word. The issue of redress in the case that led to the censure remains unresolved.

Frank Phillips College (Texas) .

Censure was imposed on the Frank Phillips College administration by the Fifty-fifth Annual Meeting in 1969, following an investigating committee's report on the summary dismissal of a faculty member in her tenth year of service.

The issue of redress in this case was resolved some years ago, but Frank Phillips College continues to lack a system of faculty tenure. Its current president wrote to the staff eighteen months ago that he could "see no possible solution," and there has been no subsequent word from him.

Virginia Community College System

The Sixty-first Annual Meeting voted in 1975 to impose this censure. It did so on the basis of a published report on actions by the chancellor and the governing board to abolish the further granting of tenure in the twenty-three colleges that comprise the Virginia Community College System. The report found that these actions had been taken without previous faculty knowledge and contrary to manifest faculty will.

Although there have been no concrete developments, discussions continue. The chair of Committee A and the responsible AAUP staff officer met in Richmond in March with the current chancellor and the president of the system's largest college to explore a possible resolution of outstanding issues.

Concordia Seminary (Missouri)

The administration of the Concordia Seminary was added to the censure list by the 1975 annual meeting. The censure followed an investigating committee's findings that the administration terminated a professor's services because external ecclesiastical authorities objected to his views on subjects that were within his area of academic competence.

The Association staff s letters over the past year to the president of the seminary have gone unanswered.

Houston Baptist University

The Sixty-first Annual Meeting voted to censure the Houston Baptist University administration after it acted, without affordance of academic due process, to terminate the services of a professor whose years of teaching had exceeded the maximum probationary period permitted under the 1940 Statement of Principles. The published report on this case also dealt with the abrogation of the existing tenure system by the institution's governing board. As has been the case for several years, the staff's letters over the past twelve months to President E. Douglas Hodo have met with silence.

Murray State University (Kentucky)

Censure was voted by the Sixty-second Annual Meeting in 1976. The action was based on the findings of an investigating committee that the administration of Murray State University, without demonstrating adequate cause, terminated the services of nine faculty members who had served beyond the maximum period of probation allowed under the 1940 Statement of Principles.