Faculty-administration schisms grow
Kate Baumgartner ’11 captures a student posing for a photo that will eventually be included in a Media Awareness Week collage. For story see page 5.
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ARFA
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ROKHOROVA
Faculty, see p. 3
Grinnell College Grinnell, IAFebruary 6, 2009 Volume 125, Issue 15
The Scarlet and Black
First College Newspaper West of the Mississippi
Alcohol, see p. 2
BY
A
RI
A
NISFELD
, P
AT
C
ALDWELL
& D
AVID
L
OGAN
As the Trustees gathered on campus yesterday for theirquarterly meeting, they arrived at a College with a deep dividebetween its faculty and administrators.A series of recent events beginning with barbed letters andlegal threats have galvanized the College’s faculty and left bothprofessors and administrators questioning the faculty’s role inrelation to the Office of Student Affairs. At the same time,questions have been raised over whether faculty have inap-propriately contacted and pressured students for informationpertaining to personnel issues. This all comes on the heels of last semester’s controversial faculty letter to the
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address-ing the departure of former Associate Dean and Director of Residence Life Sheree Andrews and a fiery open forum whichfeatured public sparring between administrators and faculty.On Monday, Jan 26, Ralph Savarese, English, was sent acease-and-desist letter from College President Russell K. Os-good, according to numerous faculty sources. When reachedby the
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, Savarese would not offer any comment.Osgood would neither confirm nor deny the existence of a cease-and-desist letter, citing the confidentiality of privateconversations with professors, but did state that, “ProfessorSavarese is a faculty member in good standing, [and is] notthe subject of any disciplinary action.”Many faculty members, however, said they viewed thecease-and-desist letter as an unwarranted and intimidatinggesture. “That’s something really upsetting, to move to a pow-er move so quickly,” said Johanna Meehan, Philosophy, whenasked about the letter. “It really shuts off and silences peoplein a way that does not seem a good thing.” While the exact motivation for sending the letter remained vague to many faculty members interviewed, the faculty re-sponse was quite strong. “I don’t know what Professor Sava-rese said, but I think it’s hard to understand the president’sresponse as anything other than an attempt to intimidate afaculty member into keeping quiet and I’m not sure when that would be appropriate,” said a tenured professor who was notinitially involved in the discussions over Andrews’ departure,and who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivenature of the topic. “My intuition is that it would never be ap-propriate, given free speech.”In response to the cease-and-desist letter and ongoinggrievances against the administration, certain faculty mem-bers, including many who signed the initial letter to the
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,organized and decided to present their concerns to the broaderfaculty community at a regularly scheduled all-faculty meetingthis past Monday.At the meeting, Victoria Brown, History, who signed onto the
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letter, read a statement on behalf of the involvedfaculty which outlined their concerns on the Student Affairshiring and firing process and called for a faculty-only ad hocmeeting later in the week dedicated to the issue.At the subsequent meeting, which was held Wednesday and attended by roughly 60 faculty members, a select groupof professors presented to the rest of the faculty in attendancea packet of information detailing Andrews’ dismissal and theprofessors’ correspondence with Osgood. The materials alsoincluded specific concerns about the College’s Vice Presidentof Student Affairs Houston Dougharty, who became a centraltarget for faculty ire in the wake of Andrews’ departure.After some discussion, the faculty present at Wednesday’smeeting took a vote on three separate issues: whether thereshould be an external review of Andrews’ departure, whetherthe search for Andrews’ replacement should be placed on holduntil an investigation can be completed, and whether Andrewsshould be rehired. The first two measures passed by wide mar-gins, while the third vote split the faculty closely down themiddle.“The overwhelming majority felt that there was reason forconcern and that it was reasonable to ask for the president toset up a review when so many people had so much confirmed,”Meehan said.Faculty members have arranged a meeting with the Col-lege’s Board of Trustees today in order to present their com-plaints outside of the College’s formal channels.Since the December open forum, certain faculty memberscontinued to investigate the circumstances of Andrews’s de-parture. On Jan 27, before Savarese received the cease-and-desist via mail, a group of professors presented Osgood witha letter seeking the creation of an external review of StudentAffairs and its hiring and firing practices.Osgood responded two days later with a letter of his own (acopy of which was obtained by the
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), stating that faculty were fully separate from the office of Student Affairs. His let-ter also addressed claims faculty members had made through what he characterized as “‘unauthorized investigations.’”“I note that no evidence was actually adduced with thestatement,” Osgood wrote, “and recall the torrent of e-mailsfrom a faculty author with various claims, many anonymousand also frequently omitting key facts and events even if known to the faculty author, and a number with demeaningand insulting claims.” While the student body has remained largely unaware of these recent events, the effects of the dispute have begun totrickle down to students. SGA Vice President for AcademicAffairs Julie Hoye ’09 noted the difficult position that stu-
Commemorating “Nude-In,” FAC hosts photo shoot
Cease-and-desist letter issued to Savarese, faculty mobilizes amidst claims of improper faculty contact with students
Alcohol Task Forceformed for review
BY
B
RIAN
S
HERWIN
In a Jan 29 e-mail, President Russell K.Osgood announced the formation of a Task Force on Alcohol Policies and Issues that will produce a report evaluating Collegepolicies related to alcohol and suggesting ways to improve them. The body’s members,roughly half of whom are students, is merely an exploratory organ and will not issue any policy changes. While the Task Force will conduct acomprehensive and community-based ex-amination of the drug and alcohol policies, it will not be charged with implementing any changes to them, according to Vice Presidentfor Student Affairs and ex-officio Task ForceMember Houston Dougharty.Dougharty said the Task Force wouldlikely not recommend a complete overhaul of the current policies. “I see no reason to throw the baby out with the bath water if we’ve gotan environment that works and that peoplecan be responsible with,” Dougharty said.Instead most of the Task Force’s recommen-dations will likely be adjustments to existingpolicy.Members said that they do not have hardplans, but expect their work will emphasizecommunity education about the responsibleuse of alcohol. “Every Monday morning,I know of people who get themselves in apickle … legally or they get themselves in apickle in terms of their health,” Dougharty said. “I think that we have a responsibility toprovide those folks with education, so thatthey don’t make those choices.” Task Force Co-Chair and Wellness
Students approached by faculty
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SGA budget meansmore for your films andless for your concerts.Details inside..........p. 4Erin McBurney ’09 on100 days. Booze, goodfriends, and lots of making out............p. 9 Animated paintings without the Saturday morning Cheerios, with legitimacy.......p. 6Grinnell Swimming makes like MichaelPhelps and earnsmixed results.......p. 11
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