The-Ave.US

Letter to the Search Committee from the AAUP:

“Mark Emmert gravely undermined the principles of shared governance.”

The University Chapter of the AAUP has written a very worrisome letter to the Presidential Search Committee.  The key charge in the letter is that the administration has undermined the central principles of governance at the UW.  The letter urges the Committee to seek a candidate who has the commitment to academic principles, the leadership skills, and the experience to repair this damage.

The full letter is now in the Ave Public Library and is quoted below.

This is a terrible time for such a letter to need to be written.  The regents job is onerous.  In very difficult times, they need to find a President who has the credibility and skills to make changes in the UW.  The most important asset available to that President should be the immense strength and prestige of the UW faculty.  That faculty, however, is so estranged by the way the administration has behaved that only two faculty, out of 5,000, showed up at a the open forum the Search Committee held to meet with faculty. Two, two from a group of people that includes many individuals who off campus are world class experts and leaders in their own right.

Who are the people who did NOT show up?  Even leaving aside the obvious message that the faculty as a whole is estranged, the absent faculty includes Nobel laureates, senior consultants to industries and governments, entrepreneurs who started several  major businesses, world class thinkers and doers.  Some of these people might have been great candidates for the position or know candidates.  Sadly, this class of candidates is unlikely to be recognized by the all too traditional search firm the regents have employed.

Why do we have this level of estrangement?   Emmert, a person who himself lacks academic or business prestige based on achievements outside of  the academic bureaucracy (see his CV in THE-Ave Public Library), recently chose to ignore a vote by three quarters of the Faculty Senate.  Since Washington State law  charges the Senate  with “charge of the immediate government of the institution under such rules as may be prescribed by the board of regents” (RCW 28B.20.200), n effect the President chose to deny validity to the academic governing body of the UW!  This was, at best, poor judgement.

Unfortunately, the problem is not limited to President Emmert.  Our interim President, Phylis Wise, has a far more impressive set of credentials than Mark Emmert’s.  Unfortunately, she has been tarnished by her role in the Aprikyan affair and is also identified with shocking charges about similar problems at the UW’s Tacoma campus.

The AAUP letter’s impact on the Committee ought to be heightened by the recent revelations that the UW administration has threatened Andrew Aprikyan not to appear on campus:

“It is inappropriate for you to have any further activity in any UW laboratory.”

This threat seems more appropriate for a medieval church choosing to excommunicate a dissident priest than for a modern university dealing with a scientist who is respected by his colleagues even if vilified by  President Emmert.

Not a good sign.

Dear Dean Testy and Mr. Simon,

As an organization committed to upholding academic freedom, advocating for faculty, and safeguarding the integrity of the institution, the University of Washington chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP-UW) respectfully requests that the Presidential Search Committee make a strong commitment to shared governance a key criterion for selecting the new UW president.

Washington State Law mandates that the University of Washington faculty “shall have charge of the immediate government of the institution under such rules as may be prescribed by the board of regents” (RCW 28B.20.200). More than merely a legal requirement, genuine shared governance promotes and sustains academic excellence. In order to attract and retain outstanding researchers and teachers, the University of Washington must be a place where faculty can be confident of due process and fair treatment, and of a reliable salary policy born of truly shared governance. The university’s administration justifies such confidence when it respects the Code that governs faculty employment, roles, and responsibilities.

The University is entering a difficult period when the incoming president will need the support and trust of the faculty in order to maintain UW as a world-class institution.  At the same time we are coming out of a particularly discouraging period for shared governance. In the final months of his presidency, Mark Emmert gravely undermined the principles of shared governance long practiced at the University of Washington.

In March 2010, President Emmert unilaterally rejected and reversed the findings of a faculty adjudication hearing panel investigating the case of Professor Andrew Aprikyan, who had been charged with scientific misconduct.  By overturning and disregarding the findings of a conscientious, experienced, and long-serving panel of senior faculty, the president in effect disregarded the faculty and gravely threatened shared governance.

In May of this year, President Emmert proposed a revision of Executive Order 64 (EO64). This document, which was signed by former President McCormick and approved by the Board of Regents, elaborated the terms of a faculty salary policy that had been carefully negotiated with elected faculty representatives.  President Emmert’s proposed revision (EO64R) introduced dramatic changes to this policy, and was put before faculty in a manner that failed to honor the careful process that had produced the original agreement.  Acting unilaterally in this way, in disregard of clear and unified faculty advice (expressed at an emergency Faculty Senate meeting), constitutes a dramatic departure from longstanding and successful traditions of faculty-administration working relations at the University of Washington.

AAUP-UW urges the Presidential Search Committee to use the criterion of shared governance as a critical component in evaluating presidential candidates.   We believe that only individuals with real commitment to shared governance will gain the level of faculty support that is vital for truly successful leadership of the University of Washington.  Thank you for your consideration.

The  AAUP-UW Executive Board

(full copy in THE-Ave.US Public Library)