Provost defends not reappointing nearly half of GE lecturers in email to students

By Joshua Rosario || Published May 5, 2019

Kean’s top academic official told students in a mass email on May 2 that Kean did not reappoint lecturers — representing nearly half of the lecturers in the School of General Education including some who have worked at Kean for several years — because they did not meet the university’s “rigorous standards.”  

Ten GE lecturers believe they are being let go at the end of summer after publicly criticizing a controversial move from private offices to open office space that they thought could jeopardize federal student privacy rules. GE lecturers advise the entire freshman class and teach.   

Kean previously did not give the lecturers or the media a reason for the action, nor say whether the posts would be filled. However, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Jeffrey Toney said in his email that the lecturer positions will be filled and they are not a layoff.    

The email is one of three emails defending the administration for not reappointing the lecturers, a decision that has been covered in the media and drawn the attention of both state Assemblywoman Mila Jasey(D-Essex) and state Sen. Joseph Cryan (D-Union). Both sent letters to Kean, questioning the wisdom of cutting mostly women and people of color who are charged with advising the freshmen that the public university wants to retain.

“We will recruit and employ new lecturers who do meet our standards to fill these positions, therefore there are no layoffs at Kean,” said Toney’s email.

Lecturers are professors on one-year contracts typically renewed annually as Kean USA rapidly increases the number  of lecturers over the hiring of tenure-track professors. The email said Kean reappointed 90 percent of its lecturers.

The fired GE lecturers have said they all received excellent evaluations by their supervisors and some had already been approved for overload pay and travel, two perks that the administration use as rewards.

One of the fired lecturers said that several of the lecturers are Kean alumni and received  the provost’s email about them. Some of them will be working in the summer on New Student Orientation and other student-centered activities before their current contracts expire.

“I’m saddened and dismayed at what was supposed to be an HR matter turning into a smear campaign against instructors whose students are counting on them to fairly and accurately evaluate them at the end of the semester,” said Lecturer Andre Jones.

Toney also suggested in his email that the non-appointments– which besides the 10 representing nearly half of all GE lecturers also includes three lecturers in other disciplines and four professional staff — was part of Kean’s ordinary annual reappointment process. The email states that  Toney is ”correcting misinformation” created by some of the lecturers and other faculty “to generate controversy,” but it does not provide examples or details.  

 “It has come to my attention that some students feel harassed and fearful for their grades because some of these lecturers and other faculty are spreading misinformation to generate controversy,” Toney wrote. “You may contact your dean or executive director if you have any such concerns. You also are welcome to contact me directly.”

The Kean Federation of Teachers, the faculty’s union, said it is circulating a petition supporting the fired employees and it has over 1,500 signatures. KFT also is circulating a flyer for a rally on May 6 outside Kean Hall before the Board of Trustees meeting. The 3 p.m. rally supports the fired faculty and ties it to a campaign called “Fund Our Future” that includes other demands like improved Wifi and more parking for the mostly commuter campus.

“From what I understand, students mobilized on their own. They know us,” said Jones. “I also don’t understand how students and their parents are supposed to entrust us with handling their grades and even advisement if they’re putting it into students’ minds that we supposedly are not effective instructors.”

Heather Connors, another GE lecturer let go, characterized the emails against them from the provost and the administration as “upsetting, but unsurprising.”

“Students have been emailing the Provost and President without response since they first heard about lecturers being let go,” said Connors in a email. “The Kean community is speaking out and will attend the rally because we understand that our institution is in trouble and we need to do something about it.”

The process for renewal of lecturers involves producing lengthy annual folders of the year’s work that show teaching evaluations and service to the Kean community. After being reviewed by department directors and the dean, the folder then goes to Toney and then President Dawood Farahi for recommendation to the Board of Trustees for final approval. 

“I have never been made to feel like my grades are at risk or that I have to “choose sides” like the emails are implying,” commented Gianna Lepanto, a freshman majoring in English Studies. “The GE teachers I know have continued to be nothing but kind and supportive of students despite the circumstances they are being placed in. “

Toney’s email is one of three emails issued in defense of the university’s decision to let go of the lecturers. The latest email was sent to students on May 3 by the Executive Board of the Student Government Organization, which is not an autonomous body but is elected by the students.

The email stated that students have been concerned about rumors of “layoffs” and that they had concerns as well.

“So we asked questions and we learned that there are no layoffs happening on campus,” the email said. “Despite the rumors and posters around campus, learning the facts made us feel confident that the next generation of Kean students will get the support they need.”
The Executive Board email claimed students are being pressured to side with professors and feel their grades are in jeopardy. The board referred to the lecturer firings as a “disagreement” and a “personnel issue.”  

“I have not been pressured by anybody to do this,” said Arnold Rojas, a sophomore in biology. “Simply put, I am a concerned student that is fighting for what I believe is best for current and future students of Kean.”

The first email of the three was sent to faculty and staff from University Labor Counsel Kenneth Greene on April 23. The lawyer said he wanted to “set the record straight” and claimed there were “false narratives” being repeated and published. Greene said anyone suggesting the decisions made during the recommendation process were not standard procedure are “misleading.”

In addition to The Tower, the controversy about the GE lecturers losing their jobs has been reported by The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Star-Ledger, nj.com, and PoliticoNJ.com.

Clarification: The Tower changed the headline on this article from firing to not reappointing because it accurately depicts Toney’s words in the email

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