Special Issue 2002 A
At special meetings January 10-11 of the USF Chapter of the United Faculty of Florida, the Membership passed the following motions.
Whereas, the actions and activities of Professor Sami al-Arian did not constitute misconduct, conflict of interest, or a breach of academic responsibility pursuant to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement;
The USF Chapter of UFF objects to the actions of the USF Board of Trustees and the USF President in initiating the termination of Dr. Sami al-Arian;
The USF Chapter of UFF objects to the USF President taking action without consulting with appropriate faculty groups, particularly the USF Chapter of UFF and the USF Faculty Senate;
The USF Chapter of UFF strongly recommends that the Florida UFF office, the Florida Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association provide resources to defend Professor al-Arian;
The USF Chapter of UFF finds it repugnant to academic freedom and principles of freedom of speech that faculty are held accountable for responses of third parties over whose behavior they have no control, particularly alleged threats to disrupt the university by violence or threats to withhold donations;
The USF Chapter of UFF supports the action of Professor Elizabeth Bird in her principled resignation of her position as advisor to the Provost in response to the university’s actions in regards to Professor al-Arian.
The statewide UFF Steering Committee unanimously voted to support the Chapter in defending Professor al-Arian's rights.
We believe that our eventual success will be a victory for due process of law.
Due Process at USF
What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil? ... And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you - where would you hide ... the laws being flat? ... This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast ... and if you cut them down[,] ... d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? ... Yes, I'd give the Devil the benefit of the law, for my own safety's sake. -- John Bolt
A wind is blowing.
It is ironic that acts of supreme lawlessness - the attacks on New York and Washington - led to an attack on law itself. Not just particular laws, but the whole idea of Due Process, with specific charges, formal hearings, rules and regulations, and the possibility (heaven forbid) of acquittal.
One thing did not change on Sept. 11. We are still fallible human beings. The most terrible enemies of civilization still lurk in our own hearts. We must daily will ourselves to be civilized.
Part of the apparatus of civilization is Due Process. When decisions are to be made, they are made according to reliable procedures, with input by affected parties.
Due Process seems such a creaky luxury in a crisis: one is tempted to just do what we know to be right, without all the rigamorale of specific charges, proper notification, and formal hearings.
The State University System always opposed Due Process prior to termination. So if someone is inappropriately dismissed, the grievance procedure (or the courts) cleans up the mess.
And what a mess we have now. A tenured professor has been summarily sort of fired in a procedure so peculiar that the Administration wasn't clear on what his status was (was he fired or on some kind of leave?). And now the grievance process - or the courts - must pick up the pieces.
First of all, the Administration did not have to do it this way. It could have followed the usual routine of giving six months notice. It could have asked the Faculty Senate or other faculty govenance bodies to participate. The Administration chose to act as it did.
Second of all, the BOR-UFF contract states that tenured faculty can only be dismissed for "incompetence" or "misconduct." Most of the charges are either meaninglessly broad (academics appear on talk shows all the time, talking beyond their expertise and without disclaimers) or apply to unhappiness and misconduct of third parties. It is astonishing that an institution seeking national and international respect would claim that someone can be dismissed or disciplined because of actions of his opponents.
It is tempting to just get rid of someone whom you do not like, do not agree with, or regard as a nuisance. But it could be you on the dock tomorrow. We are all in this together, for we all rely on the civilizing effect of Due Process, and the unjust dismissal of one of us will endanger all of us.
If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
- George Orwell
Part of our job is telling people what they do not want to hear. We communicate opinions, ideas, judgements, evaluations, and facts so much on and off-campus that we just take it for granted.
That ability to communicate is Academic Freedom.
Consider all the places where we say things that others may not want to hear, or be heard.
Teaching. We all have our differences with colleagues and students.
Faculty disagree on what textbooks to adopt, what subjects to cover in basic courses, whether courses should be prerequisites or in the catalog at all. In industry, people who don't go along in meetings can be fired.
And then there are grades. Unhappy students, parents and mentors have been known to go to Chairs, Deans, Provosts, and even the courts because of unsatisfactory grades.
Without the protection of academic freedom, any professor who angers someone is vulnerable to summary discipline if that angry someone goads a frightened, gullible, or impatient bureaucrat into action.
Research. When we study the world and report our conclusions., we may make some people unhappy.
Researcher A cannot repeat Researcher B's experiment, and reports the fact. Professor C runs a journal that rejects many papers submitted by influential people. Professor D discovers flaws in some products of one of the university's corporate donors. Professor E researches an area that a government agency would prefer remain unresearched. Professor F publishes a study that a local politician finds inconvenient. All six assume that they have the academic freedom to speak and publish as their conscience guides them.
Service. We are asked to reach out from our ivory towers into the community. But such reaching out is not always welcomed.
Professor G publishes a popular health book that makes some health industry corporations unhappy. Faculty H, I, and J serve on a church board, on the school board, and as curator of an off-campus museum, respectively. Professor K lends his problem-solving (or rhetorical) skills to a legal pressure group .
All of these activities pose difficulties for the university leadership. But the university is part of the community, and it serves the community by providing a base for scholars, including meddlesome scholars. A visionary university leadership will take the long view that despite the immediate bumps and lumps, faculty service to the community serves both the community and the university.
When we do these things, we rely on our academic freedom to protect us from summary discipline or dismissal by bureaucrats who believe that the simplest solution is to get rid of troublesome faculty. We rely on academic freedom as we rely on air. We might imagine, in a science fiction sort of way, that some faculty member might be so bizarre that his academic freedom could be safely abrogated; but the resulting hole, once made, extends cracks until the entire structure of academic freedom is imperilled. A scholar silenced diminishes all of us.
UFF/USF Chapter Meetings
The Chapter meets every Friday payday for lunch at EDU 219. Soda & sandwiches are free. Come and join the movement.
Membership
A union is as strong as its membership. All members of the bargaining unit are invited to join the union that negotiates your contract and defends your rights. Just fill out the membership form below and send it in.
Volunteers Needed
As we prepare for bargaining and enforcing a contract with a new local Board of Trustees, we need volunteers!
Any union members interested in helping out are invited to contact Gregory McColm, 974-9550, PHY 114, mccolm@math.usf.edu.