National AAUP released its report today finding violations of AAUP policies when the institution terminated a long serving professor of social work for criticized the administration’s handling of an incident involving a student who brought a gun to a campus parking lot, showed it to a fellow student, and said, “I'm tired of these people f--king with me.” When the student who was shown the gun reported the incident to institutional authorities, the school's chair immediately alerted social work faculty about the incident—except the school’s three faculty members of color, one of whom was scheduled to have the student in class the next day. The student had a history of making racially charged comments in class.
The faculty member was summarily dismissed. There was no disciplinary process. There was no process to appeal or challenge the President's decision. She was not given a hearing.
The report will be presented to the AAUP annual meeting in June. Jose Padin will be our representative at that meeting. The delegates will likely be asked to censure Spaulding University for the lack of any process protections protecting faculty against summary dismissal, and for not following AAUP policies.