AAUP Chapter Protests Tenure Denial at NYU
The New York University AAUP chapter joined labor and academic groups from across New York City on June 13 to protest the denial of tenure to education professor Joel Westheimer. He was turned down for tenure despite having won the unanimous backing of his department. He was the only nontenured faculty member to testify before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last year in favor of graduate students' right to organize.
In a statement delivered to NYU president L. Jay Oliva and president-
designate John Sexton, the protesters charged that Westheimer was denied tenure in retaliation for his support of the teaching assistants' successful union bid. The statement notes that the NYU graduate students' union drive was strongly opposed by deans and top administrators at the university.
"In examining Westheimer's case," comments Ellen Willis, a professor of journalism at NYU and president of the university's AAUP chapter, "we find disturbing evidence that the determining factor in denying him tenure was his opposition to administration policy. It is imperative that the decision be re-examined."
Four past presidents of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the most prominent scholarly association in Westheimer's field, submitted a separate statement to the NYU administration. "We call on NYU to guarantee that tenure proceedings will not be used as retaliation for political views and that Westheimer and all other faculty will be guaranteed a tenure hearing that is based strictly on their academic qualifications," they wrote.
The National Labor Relations Act, the federal law under which the NYU graduate students obtained their right to collective bargaining, prohibits an employer from firing or otherwise discriminating against an employee who has given testimony in an NLRB proceeding. "For both policy and practical reasons," AAUP staff member Pat Shaw observes, "the NLRB is especially vigilant about protecting the integrity of its proceedings and those who participate in them."
John Beckman, a spokesperson for NYU, denies the charge of retaliation. "Customarily," he told the New York Times, "we do not comment on personnel matters or tenure reviews, but I will say this: there are procedures in place that permit any faculty member to challenge a tenure decision, and we are confident that any review will find no merit to the allegations."
The NYU administration was censured in 1990 by the AAUP for violations of principles of academic freedom, tenure, and due process
|