Successful Bennington College Plaintiffs Recognize AAUP

Commenting on the choice of the Association as fund administrator, Marc Lendler, one of the plaintiffs who is now assistant professor of government at Smith College, says, "The AAUP provided invaluable support, including the most comprehensive report of the events at Bennington. We thought that the best way to create an ongoing memorial to further our interest in academic freedom was to put it in the hands of the AAUP." He believes the fund and lecture "will keep alive the only positive part of the Bennington events: our collective efforts in defense of academic freedom."

In 1994 more than two dozen full-time faculty members were released as a result of a sweeping reorganization by Bennington's board of trustees and its president, Elizabeth Coleman. After secretly determining that a state of financial exigency existed, the board and the president adopted a plan that, in addition to permitting the dismissals, effectively ended faculty tenure. The professor-plaintiffs argued that the fiscal crisis did not warrant the wholesale dismissals, because some of those let go were immediately replaced by newly appointed faculty members teaching nearly identical subjects. Some alleged that they were targeted by Coleman because they had spoken out against her administration.

In 1995, after a committee visited the campus to investigate the situation, the AAUP's annual meeting voted to censure the Bennington administration. The committee's report warned that academic freedom at the college had become "insecure" and that tenure no longer existed. "Both seem to have flourished in the past, but they have not survived the abrupt, excessive, inhumane, and profoundly procedurally flawed actions that culminated in the events of June 1994," the investigating committee wrote. The committee's report appeared in the March-April 1995 issue of Academe; a supplementary report was published in the January-February 1998 issue (not available online).

In subsequent years, some professors continued to have troubled relationships with the board and the administration. Last year, one faculty member was dismissed and two others were issued notices of nonreappointment; all three alleged that criticism of the college administration was a reason for the adverse actions against them. Complaints were also made about a breakdown in shared governance.

In response, the AAUP held an off-campus teach-in in May 2000 to protest curbs on academic freedom at the college. More than 150 students and faculty from colleges and universities throughout the Northeast attended the event, which attracted wide media coverage.

As part of the settlement, the college issued a statement expressing regret for the "profound disruption of the faculty members' professional careers and personal lives caused by the termination of their employment." The college further apologized for "remarks regarding the faculty members which may have been interpreted as impugning any of them or implying that they were responsible for any of the college's problems."

"The college's secret decision making and its disregard of tenure rights shattered the principles upon which Bennington College was founded," says Peter Danziger, counsel for the plaintiffs. "Unfortunately, the settlement monies and statement of regret cannot restore the college's reputation nor the careers of some of these professors. I admire and respect our clients for their perseverance in fighting the injustice of their termination. The scars of these events should serve as a warning to educational institutions to respect the principles of tenure and academic freedom."

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