Academic Freedom and Tenure: Meharry Medical College (Tennessee)1

Academe, Nov/Dec 2004 by Poston, Lawrence S, Bloch, Earl F, Soslau, Gerald

The unprecedented scope of these actions led to a 45 to 5 vote of no confidence in President Maupin, with fifteen abstentions, by those Meharry faculty present at a faculty senate meeting held mi June 4. According to a reporter who attended the meeting, members or the faculty challenged the basis of the administration's actions against the affected faculty members and expressed concern about its failure to consult with the faculty before taking those actions. Additionally, they stressed that the administration had not made any attempt to justify the seriousness of the budget situation by declaring a state of financial exigency or by discontinuing any departments or programs of instruction. Among the faculty members quoted by the reporter as critical of the administration were Professors Shirley Russell, chair of the Department of Microbiology and associate dean for research in the School of Dentistry, and Joel Trupin, an associate professor in the microbiology department, whose cases are addressed in the sections that follow. A week later, at a meeting on June 16, between the dean and the faculty of the School of Medicine, Professor Russell questioned the method by which the dean had met the problems of institutional finances. On June In, the dean removed Professor Russell as chair of the Department of Microbiology and withdrew an earlier one-year contract for the 200ß0 -04 academic year, replacing it with two successive revised contracts, the latter of which terminated Professor Russell's services to the college as of December 31, 2003. Also on June 16;, notice of termination was issued to Dr. (aines Russell, Shirley Russell's husband, associate professor of medical education and a faculty member at Meharry since 1970.

On July 2, more than a dozen faculty members who had received six-month contracts, including the Russells and Professor Trupin, were given letters placing them on paid administrative leave for the duration of their appointments and instructing them to return all college property and remove all personal belongings from their offices by the end of the following day. On the same day, President Maupin, in response to questions at a meeting of the faculty senate, asserted that the institution was not in a state of financial exigency.

Professor Shirley Russell appealed the decision to terminate her services to the Committee on Appointments, Promotions, and Tenure of the faculty senate, which on August 22 issued a report recommending that she be given a regular one-year contract for the 200ß0 -04 academic year. As discussed below, President Maupin rejected the recommendation of the committee on August 29, and on September 15, Professors Shirley Russell, (arnes Russell, Joel Trupin, and a fourth faculty member, Professor Steven Fredman, filed suit m the Chancery Court for Davidson County, Tennessee. Three of the plaintiffs reached settlements of their cases out of court. In Shirley Russell's case, on December 18, the court issued a summary judgment for the Meharry College administration, which she has appealed.