John Carroll University will move forward with a decision to allow the university to remove certain tenure protections from the faculty handbook after the board of directors voted this week to reject a counter-proposal offered by faculty.
On March 1, the university鈥檚 board of directors voted in favor of a handbook amendment allowing for faculty to be fired without cause in the event the administration projects an annual budget deficit of 6 percent along with two additional years of budgetary 鈥渉ardship.鈥� Those terminated can鈥檛 appeal their firing. The board finalized the decision with a March 10 vote, over faculty protests.
鈥淔aculty claim the budgetary hardship amendment eliminates tenure. This is not true. The budgetary hardship amendment continues to recognize and prioritize tenure and academic freedom as essential while also acknowledging current and future economic realities that impact everyone,鈥� the board said in a statement after the vote. 鈥淭here are strict limits on when and how the budgetary hardship amendment could be triggered, with detailed protections that prioritize tenured faculty, as they should be, given the important role tenured faculty play in academic excellence and supporting academic freedom in research, teaching, and service.鈥�
The faculty counter-proposal voted down Wednesday, in part, 鈥渁ffirmed the importance of tenure and denied the right to fire tenured faculty members,鈥� said Brent Brossman, a communications professor and chairman of John Carroll鈥檚 faculty council, in an email to ideastream.
The proposal offered various ways to cut costs during times of hardships, including cutting salaries and benefits, Brossman said, as well as would have put two faculty members on the 40-member board of directors.
The board鈥檚 decision will affect the university鈥檚 standing nationwide, Brossman said last week, adding that the decision to remove tenure protections will disincentivize new faculty from taking positions at the 135-year-old private Catholic university.
鈥淚f you are and do have opportunities to go elsewhere, why wouldn't you? I mean, I鈥檇 want to have my tenure protection. So it鈥檚 an absolute incentive for faculty to leave and it鈥檚 an absolute disincentive for new faculty to come in,鈥� Brossman said after the initial vote. 鈥淣ationally, the AAUP [American Association of University Professors] reviewed this and said it's this combination of budgetary hardship and the 鈥榮calpel鈥� approach to tenure where they can remove individual faculty members from departments without cause. It's just unheard of. No one else is doing that. And it is a blight on our program right now.鈥�
The American Historical Association, which represents working historians, submitted a letter criticizing the removal of tenure protections, and asking the board to reconsider 鈥� to no avail.
鈥淭he de facto elimination of tenure (via this low bar of 鈥渂udgetary hardship鈥�) identifies the university with employment practices that have no place in American higher education,鈥� the letter read, in part. 鈥淯nder this new amendment, the university administration will be in a position to terminate tenured faculty members without cause, without the criterion of financial exigency, and without appeal. This process stands in marked contrast to generally accepted ethical guidelines 鈥� an especially striking embarrassment for an institution notable for its well-deserved commitment to Jesuit values.鈥�
In September, William Donnelly, chairman of the board of directors, saying 鈥渋t is critical that the institution and its leaders have the tools necessary to address financial challenges in a timely and thoughtful manner. The tools currently available to the institution are insufficient.鈥�
Faculty said at that time they were told the handbook amendments are needed to fix budget shortfalls related to the pandemic and declining student enrollment. , John Carroll faces a $20 million dollar budget deficit. The university eliminated its art history department in August.
The changes to the John Carroll University Faculty Handbook go into effect next fall.
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