Five tenure-track professors not recommended for a return next year
By Siobhan Donaldson | Published by November 14, 2019
Five tenure-track professors have received letters from the Office of Academic Affairs not recommending their return next year despite having the full support of their departments.
The affected faculty will lose their jobs on June 30 unless President Dawood Farahi chooses to overturn the decision, said James Castiglione, Kean Federation of Teachers President.
The KFT said in an email to their members on Oct 22 that a ‘disturbing’ number of probationary tenure-track faculty members received letters stating that the administration is not recommending them to President Farahi for tenure positions. Those who received the letters were in various years of the five-year process to achieve tenure. No reason was given for the non-recommendations.
“Many of these junior faculty members had the unanimous, or near-unanimous, support of their colleagues,” the email reads. “This means the administration is overturning decisions made by faculty who know first-hand the professional achievements of junior faculty.”
Margaret McCorry, Director of Media Relations for Kean, said in an email that the University Provost “carefully and equitably” reviews each tenure-track faculty member’s record to determine if they will be recommended to the president.
“President Farahi reviews all of the recommendations and any appeals to make his final recommendation to the Board of Trustees,” McCorry said. “That process is still ongoing. The tenure process is designed to ensure each faculty member is treated fairly and the faculty with the strongest records achieve tenure and deliver a world-class education to our students.”
To appeal non-recommendation, recipients had to turn in their substantive appeals by Nov 1, two weeks after receiving the letters. On Nov 15, President Farahi forwards the nomination to the Board of Trustees Academic Policy and Personnel Committee.
Castiglione said it is a travesty to lose those teachers for both the students and the departments.
“Even if they try to replace those instructors,” Castiglione said. “It’s hard to recruit new candidates afterward.”
When the staff members leaves, Castiglione said that “sometimes they are replaced, some are replaced with non-tenure track Lecturers, and some are left unfilled.”
On May, 12 GE lecturers were not reappointed by the university. Those let go alleged they were let go after publicly criticizing the university for moving them into an open office space, which they thought would compromise students’ privacy. Kean has denied the accusation.
Jan Balakian, a tenured professor in the English Studies Department, said the importance of a tenured teacher is in their “commitment to the university and students.”
Balakian spoke on how much potential Kean has in their student population and opportunities, advocating for certain adjunct professors being hired full-time.
“We have a beautiful campus in the best location with the most diverse student population, with a Distinguished Speakers Series, and renowned faculty who run valuable programs,” Balakian said. “If we had a ratio of 15 students to 1 faculty member, students would come from all over the country to study at Kean.”