Administration denies that Board decisions weaken JCU
“This will help to address structural cost issues in a less severe way than eliminating entire programs or departments, a harsher provision found in the current Faculty Handbook.”
John Carroll administration said that the Board serves to “preserve tenure and academic freedom.”
Mar 3, 2021
John Carroll University administration provided a statement late Tuesday after John Carroll University’s Board of Directors approved new amendments to the Faculty Handbook, which allow the University to fire tenured faculty members if the University has declared budgetary hardship.
The statement said the three amendments, which were proposed six months ago, were one of several strategies “aimed at helping JCU operate and compete more effectively in the fast changing and increasingly competitive world of higher education.”
According to the administration, the amendments were put in place to update numerous provisions of the Faculty Handbook, which they said “is outdated, fails to promote fairness and equity, and is not consistent with best practices in higher education.”
The administration echoed the faculty’s need to preserve tenure and academic freedom, which the Board says they are fully committed to protecting. The three amendments are as follows according to the statement:
“The first amendment streamlines the amendment process, while the second would establish a more consistent faculty and staff benefits process. The Board’s goal with the third amendment is to provide a process for academic savings when necessary during times of budgetary hardship. This will help to address structural cost issues in a less severe way than eliminating entire programs or departments, a harsher provision found in the current Faculty Handbook.”
The Board reportedly incorporated faculty suggestions when revising the amendments, which included additional protections for tenured faculty positions. JCU said the Board will “continue to comply with the provisions for amending the Handbook and will continue to communicate with faculty going forward.”
Administrative officials said that these changes will improve the University and the community.
“The Board believes that one of the most effective ways to preserve tenure and academic freedom and to attract outstanding faculty is to continuously strengthen the University’s academic offerings and overall student experience,” the statement read. “This requires the ability to effectively steward the University’s resources for the long term. These amendments, along with many other activities underway, will help accomplish that objective and allow John Carroll to continue delivering on its Jesuit mission to the benefit of our students and the broader community.”
Gwen Dickerhoof • Mar 18, 2021 at 9:06 pm
To begin with I was surprised when we hired a lay person for President of a Catholic Jesuit University. I will question if there are any clergy on the Board. I am unaware how the Board of Directors hires and fires faculty. Why do we have Deans and Department Heads? When and why are the rules changing? Are we more of a business and less of a religious based university? “Fire without cause” is a very dangerous phrase. There are human feelings and human judgments and human errors in judgment. These cloud a decision so many times and I have seen this in the educational setting way too many times. How did the Board get so much power? Who gave the Board the ultimate power and everyone else MUST acquiesce with absolutely no recourse. I am at a loss of any essence of understanding how this will make our alma mater better. Businesses turn out a product. Schools turn out human success stories. Apples and oranges
Milton Roney '69 • Mar 12, 2021 at 12:31 pm
The phrase ‘fire without cause” hits me pretty hard. If the university can fire without cause, that seems to me to abolish tenure. The prospect of tenure is an important consideration for prospective teachers, so I think the Board’s action will count against JCU in competition for the best faculty.
Everyone, including the faculty, recognizes the increasingly competitive environment faced by private colleges and universities. The faculty has expressed willingness to work with the Board, and has offered proposals to achieve the Board’s stated goals. I think it would be best for all concerned if the Board and faculty cooperate on changes that would achieve their common purpose.
Sheila McGinn • Mar 10, 2021 at 8:58 pm
The administration is being disingenuous about these matters. Firstly, if they wanted to achieve what they say, then the faculty-developed amendments would have accomplished that task, with the added benefit of having been developed collaboratively through the normal channels of shared governance that is supposed to obtain in the field of higher ed (and is required by accreditation standards). Secondly, the spurious claims that these anti-tenure, anti-faculty, anti-academic-freedom measures represent “best practices” in higher ed have been falsified by the Faculty; none of the “example” schools named by the administration/Board have the kind of sweeping measures the Board has imposed upon JCU. The Board has gutted JCU, punishing faculty, staff, and students for their own mismanagement over the last 15-20 years. These measures and the non-strategic plan they were adopted to facilitate are anti-mission and undermine the Jesuit ethos and identity of this institution. If the Board will not reverse these measures, then JCU should fold rather than be violated it this way.