FYI. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Marcy Bauman Writing Program, University of Michigan-Dearborn 4901 Evergreen Rd, Dearborn, MI 48128 fax: 313-593-5552 http://www.umd.umich.edu/~marcyb [log in to unmask] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 14 Aug 1997 09:23:49 -0400 From: Sheridan Blau <[log in to unmask]> To: Multiple recipients of list <[log in to unmask]> Subject: [NCTE-TALK:19167] Fwd: NEW: Academic Freedom and Non-Tenure (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 8 Aug 1997 01:08:14 -0400 (EDT) From: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask] Subject: Fwd: NEW: Academic Freedom and Non-Tenure FYI --------------------- Forwarded message: From: [log in to unmask] (Catherine Lavender) To: [log in to unmask] (Multiple recipients of list H-AMSTDY) Date: 97-08-06 12:17:10 EDT >Date: Sat, 2 Aug 1997 00:43:59 -0700 (PDT) >From: Kali Tal <[log in to unmask]> Dear Friends, This is a copy of the letter I've sent to the Delegates list of the Modern Language Association. I'd very much appreciate it if you could forward it to appropriate discussion lists, and bring it to the attention of academic organizations to which you belong. I'm interested in getting as much public attention as possible directed at Arizona International Campus of the Univ. of AZ, and in making the profession aware of the ways in which the University of Arizona system is supporting the denial of faculty rights, academic freedom, and due process. Thank you, Kali Tal <[log in to unmask]> ___________________________________________________________ Dear Colleagues, Arizona International Campus is a new campus in the University of Arizona system. It's a small liberal arts college, and it was advertised last year as a non-tenure-granting institution that would develop other means to guarantee academic freedom and due process for its faculty. Five new professors were hired and moved, from different parts of the country, to open its doors for the 1996-97 school year as its "Founding Faculty" members. We were asked to make a long-term commitment to the institution, and told that we'd take part in the development of this new non-tenure system. We were also assured that the one-year contracts given in our first year were "just a formality" because the Arizona Board of Regents had not yet approved multi-year contracts for AIC faculty. On the promise of the Provost of AIC, Celestino Fernandez, that multi-year contracts would certainly be offered the following year and that we had nothing to fear in terms of nonrenewal, we relocated to Tucson and began our work. The distressing turn which AIC has taken is described extremely well in this week's issue of the _Tucson Weekly_. You can find it on the Web at: http://www.weeklywire.com/tw/07-17-97/feat.htm The 3800+ word article was written by Margaret Regan, who has received two awards for her previous coverage of AIC's development. The bottom line is that there is no due process and no protection of academic freedom at AIC. All faculty members again received one-year contracts. My own contract was not renewed, and the Provost refused to give an explanation for his decision, though I believe that he did not renew me because of my tendency to speak my mind, and to question his commitment to the principles of the institution--particularly his commitment to due process. Faculty evaluations were highly irregular. This may be hard to believe, but faculty were evaluated with *the same one-page form* that was used to evaluate secretarial staff, and there was no process for evaluating teaching, service work or scholarship. No faculty member took part in looking over the dossiers of other faculty members; the decision was solely administrative and in the hands of one man, the Provost. Finally, even though our letters of offer stated that we were to serve under the terms and conditions of employment under development at AIC, my letter of nonrenewal stated that I was no more than a year-to-year appointee, with no rights under the tenure system in place at our parent campus, the University of Arizona. The push to eliminate tenure is very strong now, all over the country. Some of us have even supported the development of alternatives to tenure--I thought, when I took the job at AIC, that I was helping to create a new kind of system which would have the advantages of tenure, but none of its drawbacks. Unfortunately, I discovered that those with the greatest enthusiasm for eliminating tenure want most to eliminate its protections for faculty. AIC has been touted as "the future" of the academy. If it *is* the future, then our future will be made of academic sweat shops and a growing class of intellectual migrant laborers. I hope that you will take the time to read the _Tucson Weekly_ article, and to pass it on to your colleagues. At a time when tenure lines are going unfilled for lack of funding, and part-time and year-to-year employment among academics is growing by leaps and bounds, we need to pay careful attention to the ugly and ill-constructed foundations upon which the "non-tenure revolution" in the academy rests. I'd appreciate responses, either on the list or privately, as well as any suggestions about how to publicize the situation at AIC. Collegially, Kali Tal Until recently a Professor at Arizona International Campus, Tucson. Now a woman without an institution. Kali Tal [log in to unmask] http://www.kalital.com New Word Order Web Development http://www.new-word.com "Web Sites for Academics and Other Smart People"