Illinois AAUP Committee A Report

Committee A has been very active. We have requested that the national office of AAUP investigate a case at DePaul University. This is the first time that the reconstituted Committee A has formally requested such an intervention. In the past, the work of the conference in this area has been unstructured and relations have been less than optimal with national. We are hopeful that this conference will receive appropriate consideration of its requests for national intervention given the fact we are allegedly serving the same organization and are on the same team. Cary Nelson, Gary Rhoades, Greg Scholtz and Robert Kreiser are all aware of this case that involves academic freedom, due process, diversity and adherence to institutional policies within the faculty handbook.

The DePaul cause is rather complex and is currently under appeal within the university: the same university that fired Norman Finkelstein because Alan Dershowitz disapproved of his pro-Palestinian writings and others wanted to censor his scholarly critique of the State of Israel. Committee A submitted a report to Greg Scholtz and a letter to the individual who was denied tenure and promotion within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. AAUP national avoids intervention until an appeals process is completed; we await the outcome of that stage.

Committee A has also assisted other professors who are planning their promotion and tenure applications and who were denied tenure. The committee attempts to handle cases through the chair who then determines if full committee action is warranted. I urge individuals who have questions concerning promotion and tenure issues to consider either contacting national in the first instance or Illinois Committee A.
Peter N. Kirstein, kirstein@sxu.edu