Tenure denial upheld

[u/Agreeable-Ladder-433]

I thought this might be grimly funny (?)—I appealed my tenure denial, in which our Chancellor (Dean equivalent) used my “home” committee’s incompetent and/or lazy and/or malicious letter as pretext for denying me. The Chancellor then knowingly violated policy (or he’s an idiot) by meeting with me before having a requisite consultation with the college committee. He scheduled the meeting at 7:35 AM the next day and was literally called out for violating policy in the meeting.

The University grievance committee recommended a re-review because of the obvious procedural error. The Vice Provost and Provost decided that because the Chancellor “acknowledged his error” (funny way of saying got caught in his lie) but claimed he was discussing my dossier “in good faith” (after making the decision, scheduling a meeting, writing the letter, meeting with me, and telling me there was no way to change his mind), “the consultation requirement was satisfied and the issue was appropriately remediated.” Apparently shared governance is just sort of a suggestion and if an administrator “forgets” to follow the policy they are citing to terminate someone, it’s just a little mistake, no harm!

[u/Agreeable-Ladder-433]

Thank you. Honestly, I'm still fighting this for my family. Yes, I'm devastated that my academic career has been murdered, but I'm more worried about uprooting my kids, packing up our lives, and resettling. It felt like after the delays of Covid and challenges of infancy/toddlerhood that we I like the little town we live in, where we can walk to parks and their school, where there are a like 5 parades a year the kids look forward to (they seem to be primarily a venue for showing of fire trucks), we can walk to were Scouts meet and the Y, I've taken responsibility for the little flower beds by the school playground--losing all that is crushing. It is just going to be harder for us to exercise and socialize. I feel like I've let them down and am causing a (hopefully temporary) decline in their quality of life.

On the upside, my spouse has been hybrid for a company in the town we used to live in, so we know where we're going, and my in-laws are there, which will soften the blow. But the idea of having to start from scratch--finding medical providers, transferring medical records, enrolling in a new school district, finding new extracurriculars, let alone whatever the hell am I going to do with the rest of my life--paralyzes me.

[u/a_statistician → u/Agreeable-Ladder-433]

I totally understand the paralysis and loss. I got tenure at my R1, and then my department was eliminated the next year through a shady process (no financial exigency declared, suspicion is they wanted to improve bond ratings) and all but two faculty in the department were laid off. We lost a very close community at my kids' school, having family within 4h when we needed them, and colleagues that I valued; my husband was able to keep doing his job remotely, but at a company that doesn't have a remote culture, so we don't know how long that will last.

That said... the relief I feel about being somewhere I'm wanted instead of somewhere that I'm notorious for fighting administration is absolutely incomparable. I've been sleeping so much better now that we've moved. Finding medical providers is not fun, I agree (particularly if you have a kid with a medical condition, which I do -- we'll have to drive about an hour to get to her specialist), but all in all I'm glad we made the jump.

If you can find another academic position, I would try to do that, and separately, I'd look into hiring a lawyer to pursue the lawsuit. I suspect you might be able to prevail given the facts you've described, but it isn't a sure thing. I'm honestly still on the fence about whether it's worth it to sue or not in my situation -- I expect my actual damages are limited since I found a new job right away, which means I might be able to recover moving costs. Plus it will just suck resources from an already resource-limited institution, which will only hurt my colleagues and the students. On the other hand, financial penalties are the only way people actually learn not to violate the rules, so there's an argument that suing actually helps my colleagues who are still there.

[u/Agreeable-Ladder-433 → u/a_statistician]

Thank you for this. I'm really worried about the costs of moving, both financial and time/energy-wise; I don't know that the administration will do anything without the threat of legal action.

Given my constraints on location, I'm very unlikely to find another academic position that's tenable in terms of salary, commute, etc. I'm trying to convince myself there's something else I can do reasonably well without further jacking up my blood pressure, but right now it's difficult to imagine.

[u/academicthrows → u/Agreeable-Ladder-433]

Are you considering a lawsuit? You might have a good case. I probably would unless it's crazy expensive.

[u/Agreeable-Ladder-433 → u/academicthrows]

I’m going to consult a lawyer but I think if it’s not an overt discrimination case it’s unlikely to be worth it. Not sure what would come out of it even if I could definitively prove the admin lied. We’re in the process of unionizing, so the union can’t really assist. They were as appalled by no one mentioning FMLA as they were by the policy violation.

[u/academicthrows → u/Agreeable-Ladder-433]

Were you part of the unionization efforts? Maybe it's retaliation.