posted February 23, 2002 07:27 PM            

A tenured Medaille College professor has been fired, another suspended, and several others disciplined for possession and distribution of documents relating to activities of the college's Tenure and Promotions Committee. The faculty members involved say they were denied due process.
Medaille's acting president, John Donahue, declined to comment specifically on the incidents, citing confidentiality restrictions.

"The college prides itself on equitable treatment of every individual, and this situation is no different," he said. "We appropriately followed the internal protocols in this case."

Protocol, as outlined in Medaille's faculty handbook, allows for suspension of a faculty member only if "his or her continuance directly constitutes an immediate physical or psychological danger to himself or herself, to others, or to college."

On Jan. 10, Donahue suspended Therese Warden, an associate professor of health and human services at the college for 15 years, for distributing a Tenure and Promotion Committee meeting document she received anonymously last October.

The document, which was not signed or marked "confidential," discussed Donahue's attempts to persuade members of the Tenure and Promotions Committee to back his decision to remove Michael Lillis from his post as chairman of the business department.

Warden said her right to due process was violated when she was denied a proper "informal conflict resolution" meeting to protest the charges against her - part of Medaille's faculty grievance procedure for pending terminations.

Warden, co-president of Medaille's American Association of University Professors chapter, met with Donahue briefly during her suspension and requested that no final decision be made until a committee of her faculty peers passed judgment on the situation.

According to the Faculty Handbook, this request is in accordance with the college's grievance process, but Warden said the request was never met.

On Feb. 5, Warden received a termination letter, signed by Donahue, citing "turpitude and voluntary participation in activities deliberately and specifically designed to bring discredit to the college."

Uhuru Watson, a political science professor, also received a letter of suspension, and at least two other faculty members who held copies of the document have been disciplined. Donahue declined to say exactly how many other faculty members are involved.

Warden said she was alarmed by the contents of the Tenure and Promotions Committee document she found in her mailbox last October. Typically, department chairmen are named by the president after consultation with other department faculty, said Randy Brown, Warden's AAUP co-president. The Tenure and Promotion Committee should play no role in these decisions, but the documents revealed otherwise.

Unsure of the document's meaning, Warden said she photocopied it for two other faculty governance leaders - Brown and Beth Lucyzsyn, a Faculty Council leader - and met with Acting Dean Joseph Savarese to tell him about the document.

"I had no doubt in my mind I was doing the right thing," she said. "It just wasn't right, what they were talking about."

Warden has consulted with an attorney and filed grievances with the college for violation of due process and the use of the word "turpitude" to describe her actions.

"You don't just say someone has committed turpitude," she said. "It's like the worst thing you can say to a professor. It's like calling someone a felon."

Donahue declined to offer a time line for resolution of the matter, but said the Faculty Grievance Committee would eventually hear Warden's case.

"All provisions for review of the decision have not been exhausted yet," he said.

Professors from other local colleges say the events at Medaille have frightening implications for university faculty everywhere.

Ellen Banks, president of Daemen College's AAUP chapter, called Donahue's actions "a major erosion of academic freedom and the tenure system" - a dangerous step toward setting a precedent for firing tenured professors without due process if they express objectionable ideas.

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20020220/1048687.asp

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In case you're wondering what "Turpitude" means:

tur·pi·tude Pronunciation Key (tūrp-td, -tyd)
n.
Depravity; baseness.
A base act.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin turpitd, from turpis, shameful.]

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

turpitude

\Tur"pi*tude\, n. [L. turpitudo, from turpis foul, base.] Inherent baseness or vileness of principle, words, or actions; shameful wickedness; depravity. --Shak.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

turpitude

n : a corrupt or depraved or degenerate act or practice: "the various turpitudes of modern society" [syn: depravity]
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

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This is an issue that the MBA student body and others should be aware of due to the potential negative repercussions to the MBA program and larger school issues (such as lawsuits and continued accredidation).

What are your thoughts?

Regards,
Christopher M. Gengo
Recent Graduate & Founder/1st President MBA Student Organization

posted February 23, 2002 08:40 PM            

Thanks.

posted February 28, 2002 02:27 PM            

I believe that we need to learn the facts. At this point, what we know is that there is a lot of uncertainty at the school. Since it is our education and our future, we should find out as much as we can about the entire situation. This includes going to the meetings on Friday night and Sunday, as well as meeting the candidates on Monday through Wednesday. We have to be clear--what happens in this school affects us all. This is why we can't let the problem solve itself. We are the voice of the students, let's be heard.

Michelle Reiter
MBASO Treasurer

posted February 28, 2002 03:50 PM            

These meetings and the information being provided to the students is not to merely gain criticism against the current acting President, but to rather inform the students and alumni of the facts that have taken place and promote awareness that the very nature and future of the College is at stake. Once you know all the facts, then you will realize that time spent making sure the right candidate is choosen for the position of President will be well worth it and realized in the very near future.

Questions that should be considered are,
-Why are tenured people being fired?
-What is the vision the candidates have for the College?
-Why wasn't there a checks and balances in place and/or if there was, where and when did it fail?
-How can a College teach MBA principles and violate them at the same time?
-Why wasn't there a formal grievance procedure conducted? Due process?
Although there is alot of talk about the current issue at hand (terminating/suspending professors) I agree that we need to find out the underlying reasons to why the current situation is at this point with only a few more days before we are affected for the long term.

If you want to save your energy for your studies rather than be heard on this violation of ethics and concern for the future of this College, then you will regret it when the program you are studying so hard for is cancelled. Anything is possible.

posted March 01, 2002 10:00 AM            

There...now I've said my piece. As for the event tomorrow I intend to enjoy the company of friends and fellow students, and perhaps learn how to help stabilize my Alma Mater.

Ron Kazmierczak
VP MBASO

posted March 01, 2002 10:30 PM            

No MBA student came to us and requested to meet with the admin. or to resolve an issue with a professor has been let down by the SO. There is no need to claim that the SO or myself are not aware of what is going on at Medaille now. If anyone is interested in finding out what the SO has done since the article hit the papers please email or call me and I will be more than happy to detail out what I haev done on behalf of the MBASO since last week when the events occured. The last thing I did today was personally inviting Dr. Savarese to our event tonight to come and answer your questions, and he kindly accepted and came and spoke. So the SO did something else by bringing one from the Admin. to speak and answer questions and whether you were satisfied by his answers or not it is your own opinion. The point is the SO did what it's supposed to do and brought you and the MBA students the opportunity to speak with Dr. Savarese and ask him anything you wanted. I did not see any other individuals at Medaille succeeding at presenting the admin.'s opinion or bringing them to us as we, the SO, have tonight. So obviously we are active and we have been since the article hit the papers.

Finally, the claim that the SO has been inactive or totally false and not supported because the SO could present anyone with students who had concerns and approached the SO and we facilitated meetings with the admin. and/or faculty. Again, if anyone is interested in knowing what did we do since the events occured please email or call me and there is nothing to hide from you. If certain individuals (not pointing out specifically) have interests in presenting and claiming a bad image about the MBASO then I have nothing to tell them because I am not in the business of kinder garten or he said she said games. This weekend and Monday I am meeting with more faculty members on a one on one basis to get more facts from them. We know what we did and doing and we could support it, as simple as that.

Claims should end up here. The MBASO has done its job and did not stasy away from the events as some may claim. We are not in the business of spreading panic or havoc. We are doing our jobs of getting you information from both sides and presenting both opinions. No officer has been neglegent or lazy. I am so happy and honored to work with Ron, Christine, Pamela, John Lee before his resignation and Benedek before his graduation. They are wonderful and hard working people. Again, we are students before anything else. We have the same concerns and goals like any other MBA student at medaille. We do not have a different agenda than you. being divided or running after personal interests or personal claims will not help our case as students. We need to come together and act like MBA students, adults, not kinder garten because all of us are respectful and responsible adults.

posted March 02, 2002 04:12 PM            

Amr: First of all, you have taken everything that has been said on the Bistro extremely personally. Even if things have been directed at you, it is your responsibility as the President of the MBASO to provide calm leadership, especially in the face of adversity. Most students and faculty are upset about the current state of affairs at the school, with some students being more vocal about it. For you to keep going on and perpetuating an argument online is inappropriate. You made a comment that the administration would likely seek to divide and conquer the students. By not stopping the argument, you have set a tone for the students saying that you are mad and unapproachable, when I don't think this is what you really intended on doing. Please calm down and try not to take this situation so personally.

On a different note, I feel that the events of last night provided the students with some interesting perspectives. I feel that we really didn't get any more clarity on the situation but this is to be expected. We need to address our concerns over the next few days in order to determine what questions we need to ask the candidates. It was great that so many students turned out for this event.

Additionally, I feel that we owe an apology to Michelle Grifasi as she was supposed to speak last night about how she was able to have 2 job offers as a result of our program. The tone of the evening was dramatically changed from a social event of having new students meet the veterans of the program to a much more political evening. It
was not the evening we planned, however, it was great to see so many students come out. I can only hope to continue this degree of student involvement in the future and hope to see you all at the next event.

:)
Michelle Reiter
MBASO Treasurer

posted March 03, 2002 12:14 PM            

Unfortunately, today is the first I am learning about all the controversy that is going on. I wish I were more 'in the loop' so to speak, but with all the daily obligations of life, I do not find time to be as 'politically active' as I would like. I would love some background information, such as why pres. Donahue was advocating Mike Lillis' removal as department chair in the first place. Anyone care to comment?

This is an unfortunate and disappointing situation. Let's hope it can all be resolved without further damage to our program's reputation.

posted March 03, 2002 08:16 PM            

Have a good night.

Amr Abbas
MBA Student & MBASO President