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3 Denied Tenure; University Admits It Didn�t Follow Rules

By Lovemore Masakadza
Black College Wire

Three faculty members at North Carolina Central University have been denied tenure in a process in which the university admits it did not follow its own procedures.

Photo credit: Mike Feimster/Campus Echo Provost Lucy Reuben said the faculty made its tenure recommendations out of turn.

Two are appealing the denial and the third has has talked to the provost about reconsidering his tenure application.

According to the Faculty Handbook, the portfolio a faculty member submits for evaluation should pass from department colleagues and the department chair to the dean of the school, the provost and then to the chancellor. The chancellor then consults with the Faculty Personnel Committee.

At each stage, the professor is either recommended for tenure or not. At the end of the process, the decision is reported to the Board of Trustees and the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.

�It is not uncommon to have varying recommendations at varying levels,� said Lucy Reuben, NCCU�s provost. �Sometimes you have the same recommendation � no, no, no, no, no � and sometimes you have the same recommendation � yes, yes, yes.�

If denied tenure, the professor has one year to find work elsewhere.

In 2003, five professors applied for tenure. All five were approved by their departments and their deans, but three were not approved by the faculty personnel committee and the provost.

However, the university, by its own account, did not follow the procedures.

According to Reuben, the Faculty Personnel Committee reviewed the portfolios and made its recommendations before she did.

The committee voted against tenure for the three.

Faculty Senate Chair Kofi Amoateng said it was �total ignorance� on the part of the faculty and the administration that the procedures were not followed.

�I thought it was how we were following it, not knowing it was the other way,� Amoateng said.

Margaret Bockting, an assistant professor of English who has been teaching at NCCU since 1991, and was denied tenure in the last academic year, said she was trying to follow the procedures. She is appealing on the grounds that she met tenure requirements.

�If the faculty members are expected to follow the procedures, then the administration has to follow the procedures,� said Bockting.

Timothy Holley, an assistant professor in the music department who came to North Carolina Central in 1996, was also denied tenure last year and is appealing. He said the university should have followed the procedures as laid down in the handbook.

"The process was compromised because it was changed," Holley said.

Holley said his portifolio was not reviewed according to the Department of Music guidelines.

Hayk Melikyan, who has been teaching in the Department of Math and Computer Science since 1999, and was not approved for tenure last year, said he did not know why his application was not approved.

Melikyan received a strong recommendation from his department chair and said he expected regulations to be followed. He has talked to the provost about reconsidering his tenure application.

�How many of them have a theory named after them?� as he does, Melikyan asked. �This is a public institution. We have rules and regulations and we have to follow them.�

Eleanor Harrington-Austin, associate professor of English, said she would consult with the faculty union, the American Association of University Professors, to see whether her rights were violated.

Chancellor James H. Ammons said the university followed the process that existed when he came to the campus.

�It was like that when I came here,� said Ammons, who arrived in 2001. �I didn�t change the sequence. �The process is a fair and consistent process that engages all the required constituencies in the institution.�

But Gretchen Bataille, senior vice president for academic affairs for the University of North Carolina, said the university is expected to follow its policies, and �if the process was not followed appropriately, usually, the process starts all over.�

�They have to abide by the policies they laid down,� said Bataille, who added that faculty members should follow grievance procedures if they have problems with the process.

Ammons said the university would reevaluate faculty members if necessary.

�If there were a ruling that the process will have to start all over again, I think we will be obligated to do that,� he said.

Amoateng said the error did not warrant a review. �They passed through the threshold where every faculty member should pass to attain promotion and tenure,� the Faculty Senate chair said.

Irving Joyner, NCCU law professor and chair of the Faculty Tenure Committee, said that even if there could have been a procedural irregularity, it doesn�t necessarily mean the decisions have to be overturned. He said there is no procedure in the handbook about how to rectify decisions based on technicalities.

Joyner offered this advice to affected faculty: �Work through the process, go see the chancellor or file a lawsuit.�

Ammons said two committees were working on reviewing the processes and revising the tenure and promotion guidelines.

Lovemore Masakadza, a student at North Carolina Central University, is editor-in-chief of the Campus Echo.

Posted Nov. 17, 2004