ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND TENURE: NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS UNIVERSITY1

Academe, May/Jun 2006 by Nails, Debra, Baez, Benjamin, Hollinger, David A, Collins, Linda, Et al

Highlands's governance problems had already been noticed in another quarter. The North Central Association (NCA) had given the university a provisional ten-year accreditation in 2000, noting eight areas in which improvement was needed. Visiting the campus again in March 2004, the NCA's accrediting team noted with concern the university's brief history of shared governance and advised a process of clarification and refinement of the roles of students, faculty, and staff. "These clearer definitions as well as processes." the review team said, "should be promulgated in an updated handbook or manual that defines and delineates the role of Senates, Administrative Officers, the President, and the Board." The board of regents responded in December 2004, focusing on recruitment and hiring. The board directed that the university

undertake a major review of the faculty handbook policies and procedures during the current academic year. Work will include enhancement of the handbook's language addressing equal opportunity procedures associated with the conduct of faculty and administrative staff recruitment and hiring as well as other important aspects of university decision making.

During his first six months in office, relations between President Aragon and a segment of the faculty, including the leadership of the Faculty Senate, had become increasingly strained. The depths of the conflict became clear-and very public-when a group of twenty-two tenured faculty members (representing almost a third of the university's tenured faculty) sent a three-page letter, dated February 24, 2005, to the NCA, setting forth their concerns over various actions taken by the administration since President Aragon's arrival at Highlands. The letter raised important issues relating to the appropriate role of the faculty in the governance of the university. These involved such matters as oversight of the curriculum and of academic policies and procedures, faculty personnel decisions, searches for academic deans, and appointments of interim administrators. "The ability of the faculty," they wrote, "to participate as a strong, effective, and collaborative voice in university governance is being systematically eroded." They charged that the president was disrespectful to faculty in their professional capacities, citing repeated "unwarranted attacks on faculty in public meetings."They complained that he had made several administrative appointments that "reflect his personal and professional relationships more than the demonstrated needs of Highlands University." They also complained about "an atmosphere of fear, hostility, and intimidation" for faculty at the institution, and they alleged a "pattern of harassment of faculty members in leadership positions." The letter called for "intervention on the part of our educational accrediting agencies, professional associations, and the weight of public opinion and concern." Professor Tom Ward, president of the Highlands University Faculty Association (the recognized bargaining agent for full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty at the university), was quoted in the press as having stated, "We feel we've gone through channels and that's not making much of a difference. Now we are going to agencies outside the state." According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, one signer reported that "an additional ten [faculty members] read the letter and told organizers that they agreed with its complaints but were afraid to put their names on it."