How We Got Off the Censure List

Six top administrators explain how they cleared their institutions’ names.

By Robert M. Yoho, Jerry E. McGee, James “Cid” Seidelman, Sandra L. Kurtinitis, David F. Turk, James T. Barry

Ever turn to the censure list in any issue of Academe and wonder, Why don’t these colleges straighten up and fly right? The list of colleges and universities can be depressing, especially when you see how long some administrations have been under censure.

In this issue, however, we highlight a positive side of censure—its removal. No one likes being associated with an institution at which conditions for academic freedom and tenure are insecure. So perhaps it is not surprising that behind the scenes at many institutions on the censure list, faculty and administrators are working to resolve the problems that resulted in AAUP censure. In particular, the Association has more than a few success stories involving newly appointed administrators who work with their faculty colleagues and the AAUP to secure the removal of their institution from the list.

Administrations are censured by vote of the AAUP’s annual meeting for not observing principles of academic freedom and tenure endorsed by the AAUP and more than two hundred other professional and educational organizations. These principles are set forth in the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure and in derivative standards of academic due process.

The Association publishes the censure list to inform AAUP members, the profession, and the public about unsatisfactory conditions of academic freedom and tenure at the institutions included on the list. We give space below to administrations that recently made things right. Senior administrators at six formerly censured administrations tell us how they feel about their institution coming off the censure list, some of them having been on it for many years. To all these administrations we say well done and welcome back.

Jonathan Knight
Director, Department of Academic
Freedom, Tenure, and Governance

Des Moines University
By Robert M. Yoho

Wingate University
By Jerry E. McGee

Westminster College
By James “Cid” Seidelman

Community College Of Baltimore County
By Sandra L. Kurtinitis

Nyack College
By David F. Turk

Mount Marty College
By James T. Barry

Des Moines University

Censure imposed 1977;
Removed 2006

The administration of Des Moines University made the commitment in 2004 to work with the leadership of the AAUP to take appropriate actions leading to the removal of the university from the AAUP’s list of censured administrations. By that time, the university had appeared on the list for nearly thirty years, and few, if any, faculty members or administrators remained from the time of the 1977 decision. In each issue of Academe, the university was reminded of its AAUP status. And every year, the university received a request from the AAUP to try to resolve the issues.

In 1981, the institution, then known as the College of Osteopathic Medicine, expanded to become a graduate medical university. With the addition of two new colleges, the institution was renamed Des Moines University. As the university grew over the past twenty-five years, it became clear that it was unfair to burden current and future faculty members with this AAUP distinction. For this reason, the university administration worked with the AAUP; the Faculty Rank, Promotion, and Tenure Committee; and the university’s board of trustees to adopt appropriate changes to the university’s rank, promotion, and tenure documents, which resulted in the change in status for the university.

The two-year process to achieve this objective strengthened the relationship between university faculty and the administration. We learned that the changes to our documents afforded both faculty members and the administration due process and fairness in how we work through faculty issues. We found that the AAUP was willing to work with us in a collaborative manner to achieve this outcome. And finally, we value the trust that emerged and continues by completing this process.

Robert M. Yoho
Vice President for Academic Administration
Des Moines University

Wingate University

Censure imposed 1979;
Removed 2005

Based on a disagreement about an incident that occurred in the 1970s at Wingate Junior College, the AAUP placed the college on its list of censured administrations. For nearly thirty years, the various administrations of the institution and the staff of the AAUP were unable or unwilling to correct this situation.

The current administration of the institution, which is now Wingate University, made overtures to AAUP leaders several times over the years, but a resolution was never reached. Finally, a few years ago, I, as president of Wingate University, and Anita Levy, a staff member at the AAUP, began a meaningful dialogue aimed toward correcting this situation. I wanted to assure current faculty members at Wingate that their work was valued and that the university administration and trustees wanted to correct the situation if a reasonable solution could be found. At my request, the AAUP staff, led by Levy, made a proposal for resolving the matter. After several months of cooperation, the university was able to address the faculty policy concerns of the AAUP, the conflict with the two faculty members involved in the dispute that triggered the censure was eliminated, and Wingate University was removed from the list of censured administrations. During this effort, the staff of the AAUP was reasonable, helpful, and cooperative.

Jerry E. McGee
President
Wingate University

Westminster College

Censure imposed 1985;
Removed 2006

In 1985, the AAUP censured Westminster College’s administration for actions related to a major financial reorganization that led to the termination of a tenured professor on grounds of financial exigency and a board action to abandon the system of tenure at the college. The AAUP viewed these actions and the college’s new contract system as a violation of its principles of shared governance and its position on tenure and academic freedom.

For almost twenty years, little progress was made toward resolving the college’s censure status. In 2002, however, a new president extended overtures to settle the grievance with the terminated faculty member, and current faculty members and administrators began working collaboratively to revise the faculty manual. The issue was resolved when Westminster developed new policies and procedures consistent with many of the safeguards of tenure, although it did not re-establish a formal system of tenure.

Westminster’s censure status was changed because both faculty members and administrators recognized their common interest in eliminating the stigma of censure. By working collaboratively to secure consensus on new policies related to due process and shared governance, the college proved to itself and to the leaders of the AAUP that a healthy, functioning institution of higher education was firmly in place in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Since 1985, dramatic changes have occurred in the college’s fiscal condition, the quality and condition of the faculty, and the reputation of the college’s academic programs. I am confident the process to remove censure has been another important step in the revitalization and renaissance of Westminster College. Looking back, the process was both arduous and rewarding. The negotiations among various interests were challenging and time-consuming. At the same time, this process and the spirit of collaboration it generated helped to build many positive and productive relationships among faculty members and between the faculty and the administration. In the end, the president, the faculty, and I are all pleased to see the censure removed and even more pleased to reflect on this process as a positive example of faculty and administrative cooperation.

James “Cid” Seidelman
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Westminster College

Community College of Baltimore County

Censure imposed 1992;
Removed 2006

On April 19, 2006, the board of trustees of the Community College of Baltimore County endorsed and approved all actions necessary to support the college’s appeal for removal of censure to the AAUP. With this action, and the subsequent endorsement of the AAUP at its June 2006 meeting, a sad chapter in CCBC’s history was at long last ended.

I came to the college as a new president in November 2005 and discovered that my new college was under the cloud of AAUP censure. It was important to me—and to the college’s governance body and trustees—to work collaboratively with the AAUP to address the issues that had placed the college administration on censure status originally. Establishing a new collegial tone at CCBC was virtually impossible with the censure as a still lingering—and apparently festering—sore. As one of only six community colleges in the nation on the censure list, CCBC could not avoid the negative connotation of a label that unfairly characterized it as an institution that is careless of due process.

Working closely with all the college’s constituency groups within the appropriate governance processes, we have brought the college into compliance with generally accepted good personnel practices. Although we do not offer tenure, we are now able to extend tenure-like practices to our faculty and professional staff. The provisions that the college’s board of trustees adopted last April guarantee due process to faculty and staff members while keeping final decisionmaking authority where it must be vested—in the hands of the college president and trustees.

While AAUP censure never truly impeded the operation of the college, there was a moral sting to that label that cast negative aspersions on a college that is eager to move forward. By drawing on the goodwill and good thinking of key constituency groups at CCBC, and with the careful guidance of the supportive staff at the AAUP, CCBC can now in fact move on. We have ended a regrettable chapter in our college’s history. While there is still much work to do to re-establish a healthy workplace environment at our college, we feel we can now work to do so from a level playing field.

Sandra L. Kurtinitis
President
Community College of Baltimore County

Nyack College

Censure imposed 1995;
Removed 2006

Nyack College’s recent decision to work with the AAUP in order to lift the censure of its administration was prompted by three factors. First, as the college began its transition in late 2005 to a new president, the new administration wanted to effect reconciliation between the college and its former employees who were in one way or another a part of the case brought before the AAUP. These former employees included a past president, a past vice president for academic affairs, and an English professor, who brought the case to the AAUP. The new president has made reconciliation a central hallmark of his administration.

Second, the college has changed dramatically since the case was brought before the AAUP. Most notably, it has grown to over 3,000 students with over 165 full-time faculty members. It now offers many master’s degree programs and has a large branch campus in lower Manhattan. As the institution has sought to develop a highly qualified faculty, it has also tried to give faculty members a meaningful role in institutional governance, including greater control over the system of professional development and assessment of faculty. While this is an ongoing process at Nyack, it does include clarifying the roles of the governing board, the administration, and the faculty in institutional governance and bringing these roles in line with generally accepted practice in higher education. It is the institution’s current position that had the roles of the governing board, the administration, and the faculty been defined as they are now being defined, this case would have been resolved differently and would probably never have gone to the AAUP.

Finally, since the case was first reviewed by the AAUP, Nyack College has become one of the most ethnically diverse colleges in the United States, both in terms of students and faculty members. Central to the case of the professor was that she was dismissed for wearing a button that said, “Support Gay Rights.” While the college is a private evangelical Christian college with a conservative theological position in regard to homosexuality, it adheres to a strong belief in dignity and respect for all people. Further, the college does not in any way wish to associate itself with groups who use hate speech to advance their agendas.

Hence the college worked with the AAUP to remove the censure so that it could work toward reconciliation with former employees, effect the empowerment of faculty in a new system of institutional governance, and align itself with a position that supports justice rather than prejudice.

David F. Turk
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Nyack College

Mount Marty College

Censure imposed 1999;
Removed 2004

Mount Marty College received a formal censure from the AAUP in 1999. This status provided both an opportunity and a set of challenges for the institution. The opportunity was for the institution to remove the censure and to return to the good graces not only of the AAUP, but also of the academy in general. The challenges were several: (a) to return to the issues and problems that placed Mount Marty College on the censure list; (b) to re-engage with the AAUP so as to address the collective problem and find a solution to the removal of censure; and (c) with the assistance of the AAUP, to identify a process and protocol for a positive resolution to the issue. Through significant dialogue with our faculty, the kind assistance of officials at the AAUP, and a determination to rectify what has been (and still is) perceived as a strong negative, Mount Marty College was removed from the censure list in spring 2004.

The removal of this censure has resulted in a number of positive developments for the college. First, it has engendered a strong trust relationship between the faculty and the administration on both a formal and an informal basis. Second, a “can do” attitude has come about because of our successful resolution of this issue. Third, what was once a negative mark on the reputation and image of the college has been removed. Fourth, several lessons were learned—lessons that the college will not forget in the near future nor, I hope, for a long, long time.

As the president of Mount Marty, and the leader who inherited this situation, I am very proud of our faculty, staff, board of trustees, and all involved in resolving this censure issue. I am equally proud of the newfound relationship that Mount Marty College has with the AAUP.

James T. Barry
President
Mount Marty College

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