Editor's note: This Northeastern IL U. v Boyle sure sounds like Illinois ARDC v. Ditkowsky. The same abuse of power! Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Group: Northeastern Illinois president retaliated against professor
Hahs denied faculty member tenure after no confidence vote
A national faculty group has concluded that Northeastern Illinois University’s decision to deny tenure to an outspoken faculty member was retaliatory and a violation of academic freedom.
An American Association of University Professors committee found that the university provided no credible reason for denying tenure to John Boyle, who had been a linguistics professor at the public university on Chicago’s North Side. The tenure decision, made by NEIU President Sharon Hahs last year, came after faculty members, including those in the linguistics department, voted no confidence in her leadership.
“What stands unrebutted is the opinion, broadly held by NEIU faculty members, that the president denied tenure to Professor Boyle in retaliation for the linguistic professors’ expressed opposition to the administration and for their central role in the votes of no confidence in her and her provost,” according to the committee’s report, which is to be released Tuesday.
The NEIU case was examined by an AAUP investigating committee. The committees are authorized only in “a few selected cases” when there are allegations of “significant” violations of academic freedom and tenure, according to the group.
Boyle, 47, had been recommended for tenure by his linguistics colleagues, the department head, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the faculty’s personnel committee. Hahs, however, decided otherwise — the only rejection among the 16 professors up for tenure that year, according to the AAUP report.
“To see that decision reversed at the president’s level, in the way it occurred, with very little justification for her decision, was a serious departure from the AAUP guidelines,” said Rebecca Williams, an English professor at the University of Central Arkansas and a member of the AAUP investigating committee. “Not that reversals can’t happen, but it must be for a compelling reason.”
Hahs’ stated reasons for Boyle’s rejection were that he did not meet a deadline for filing a plan regarding student advising and that he did not cooperate adequately with colleagues and students. For example, Boyle was accused of steering students to study linguistics instead of Teaching English as a Second Language in his role as a student adviser, according to the AAUP report.
The AAUP said neither reason was credible and instead concluded that the president was retaliating against Boyle for his role in a dispute between faculty in the departments of linguistics and TESL. The dispute, including the decision to split the disciplines into two distinct programs, preceded the no confidence vote against Hahs.
The linguistics faculty members were among those who voted against the president, though Boyle did not participate.
The NEIU administration, in a response to the report, said it would not detail reasons for Boyle’s tenure denial because it was “confidential personnel information.” It said the university “strongly disagrees with virtually every aspect” of the report. It also noted that the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board previously ruled that there was no retaliatory action against Boyle.
“The committee proved all-too-ready to interpret the University’s commitment to preserving the confidentiality of its personnel decisions as an admission of retaliatory or bad motives on the part of the University or even the Board of Trustees,” according to the university’s response. “The University takes the strongest possible exception to the committee’s highly personalized, misguided attacks.”
Boyle’s last day at the university was May 31. He taught courses on grammar, syntax and Native American languages. He lives in Oak Park and is looking for a university job.
“This report is really vindication that I did not do anything wrong,” Boyle said. “One of the problems, if you are denied tenure, there is always in the back of everyone’s mind, this sliver of doubt that there must have been something. The AAUP report shows there is absolutely nothing that I did wrong.”
jscohen@tribune.com
An American Association of University Professors committee found that the university provided no credible reason for denying tenure to John Boyle, who had been a linguistics professor at the public university on Chicago’s North Side. The tenure decision, made by NEIU President Sharon Hahs last year, came after faculty members, including those in the linguistics department, voted no confidence in her leadership.
“What stands unrebutted is the opinion, broadly held by NEIU faculty members, that the president denied tenure to Professor Boyle in retaliation for the linguistic professors’ expressed opposition to the administration and for their central role in the votes of no confidence in her and her provost,” according to the committee’s report, which is to be released Tuesday.
Boyle, 47, had been recommended for tenure by his linguistics colleagues, the department head, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the faculty’s personnel committee. Hahs, however, decided otherwise — the only rejection among the 16 professors up for tenure that year, according to the AAUP report.
“To see that decision reversed at the president’s level, in the way it occurred, with very little justification for her decision, was a serious departure from the AAUP guidelines,” said Rebecca Williams, an English professor at the University of Central Arkansas and a member of the AAUP investigating committee. “Not that reversals can’t happen, but it must be for a compelling reason.”
Hahs’ stated reasons for Boyle’s rejection were that he did not meet a deadline for filing a plan regarding student advising and that he did not cooperate adequately with colleagues and students. For example, Boyle was accused of steering students to study linguistics instead of Teaching English as a Second Language in his role as a student adviser, according to the AAUP report.
The AAUP said neither reason was credible and instead concluded that the president was retaliating against Boyle for his role in a dispute between faculty in the departments of linguistics and TESL. The dispute, including the decision to split the disciplines into two distinct programs, preceded the no confidence vote against Hahs.
The linguistics faculty members were among those who voted against the president, though Boyle did not participate.
The NEIU administration, in a response to the report, said it would not detail reasons for Boyle’s tenure denial because it was “confidential personnel information.” It said the university “strongly disagrees with virtually every aspect” of the report. It also noted that the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board previously ruled that there was no retaliatory action against Boyle.
“The committee proved all-too-ready to interpret the University’s commitment to preserving the confidentiality of its personnel decisions as an admission of retaliatory or bad motives on the part of the University or even the Board of Trustees,” according to the university’s response. “The University takes the strongest possible exception to the committee’s highly personalized, misguided attacks.”
Boyle’s last day at the university was May 31. He taught courses on grammar, syntax and Native American languages. He lives in Oak Park and is looking for a university job.
“This report is really vindication that I did not do anything wrong,” Boyle said. “One of the problems, if you are denied tenure, there is always in the back of everyone’s mind, this sliver of doubt that there must have been something. The AAUP report shows there is absolutely nothing that I did wrong.”
jscohen@tribune.com
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