U of Louisiana tenured fac fired due to budget cuts

[monica gonzalez-marquez]

Hello Everyone,

This affects us all. Text of the news article below.

http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20110701/NEWS01/107010324/UL-terminating-two-professors

-m


  UL terminating two professors

Two tenured faculty members at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette 
received termination notices this week, and university officials would 
not rule out the possibility of more such notices being given in the 
short-term future.

"We deeply regret having to terminate tenured faculty, but in these 
budget cuts, we've been driven to close programs with low enrollment," 
Carolyn Bruder, interim provost and vice president of academic affairs, 
said during a phone interview Thursday evening. "It is possible that we 
will have one to two more professors get such notices in the near term."

Bruder said the university is phasing out the doctoral degree program in 
cognitive science as part of results of the Board of Regents' effort to 
eliminate "low completer" programs across the state.

"Two faculty members with tenure in the program have received notice 
that their appointments will not be continued after May 2013," Bruder 
said in a prepared statement issued by UL's communications department 
after The Daily Advertiser questioned the termination notices.

Istvan Berkeley, a professor of philosophy and cognitive science, is the 
head of UL's chapter of the American Association of University 
Professors. He is not one of the professors who received a termination 
notice, but he said he is "very, very unhappy" with the decision.

"This is a classic case of sinking the ship to save a pittance of tar," 
Berkeley said Thursday evening.

Bruder said the university wanted to let the professors know about the 
terminations two years in advance and will give those two professors 
letters of support to help find another job as well as offer them 
reduced-tuition course enrollment as well.

Bruder said about 14 students are currently enrolled in the cognitive 
science program, and all will be given the chance to graduate. The 
university stopped admitting students into that program after the fall 
2010 semester.

The Board of Regents looked at the "low completer" programs earlier this 
year. Bruder said the Board of Regents increased the frequency at which 
these programs are reviewed during the recent budget crunch as officials 
realized some programs would have to be shutdown.

For undergraduate programs, that means degree programs with a three-year 
average of eight or fewer graduates per year, or five students for 
master's degree programs and two students for doctorate programs.

"In this 'low completer' review, the Ph.D. in cognitive science, which 
has been on their review before, was terminated," Bruder said.

In early March, Ellen Cook, UL's assistant vice president for academic 
affairs, told The Daily Advertiser that the board sent the university a 
list of all such programs last year and required it to put them into one 
of three areas --- termination, consolidation or justification.

In UL's case, only three programs are down for termination. Cook said at 
that time doing away with the campus' agricultural education, consumer 
science education and technical and industrial arts education programs 
makes sense.

Eliminating the programs will allow resources and faculty to be assigned 
to other areas, though in many cases the faculty may simply disappear.

Bruder said the university will offer a job to the terminated tenured 
faculty if there is any opening in a department in which those 
professors are qualified to teach. However, she said she "can't imagine" 
those professors wanting to take an instructorship.

At its January meeting in preparation for program cuts, the Board of 
Regents adopted new rules making it easier for universities to fire both 
tenured and nontenured faculty members.

Michael Berube, chairman of the subcommittee on program closures for the 
AAUP, said in a June 6 letter that he was "deeply disturbed" by an 
"unprecedented and unwarranted assault" on faculty in the UL System.

"If senior professors with tenure can be fired and then immediately 
offered employment as short-term instructors, then tenure is essentially 
meaningless in the University of Louisiana System," Berube wrote. 
"Faculty nationwide should be advised that the UL System has effectively 
nullified its tenure procedures."




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So that the form takes as many risks as the content.
			From,  "Ava" by Carole Maso

Monica Gonzalez-Marquez
Psychology Department
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

Currently visiting at:

Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC)
Bielefeld University
Universitaetsstr. 25, Gebaeudeteil Q
33615 Bielefeld
Germany