Letter to the Administrative Hiring Task Force, January 13, 2025
On January 13, 2025 the AAUP executive committee of the Twin Cities chapter sent the following letter to the Administrative Hiring Task Force.
--------------------------------------------
Bill McGeveran, Dean, University of Minnesota Law School, Chair
Frank Bates, Regents Professor, Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, CSE
Ann Masten, Regents Professor, Institute of Child Development, CEHD
Diane Neumark Sztainer, Regents Professor, Epidemiology, SPH
Peh Ng, Chair, Division of Science and Mathematics, UMN Morris
Steven Ruggles, Regents Professor, History Department, CLA
Marlene Zuk, Regents Professor, Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, CBS
Ex officio:
Brent Benrud, Senior Associate General Counsel, OGC
Ole Gram, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs, EVPP
Jon Guden, Interim Chief Compliance Officer
Jason Langworthy, Associate Secretary, OBR
Andrea Yanego, Talent Acquisition Director, OHR
Dear Administrative Hiring Task Force,
As leaders of the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, we are writing to express grave concern about the Administrative Hiring Task Force, on which you have agreed to serve. As you know, President Cunningham directed the Provost to form the committee in response to objections raised by faculty and others about Interim President Ettinger’s decision to rescind an offer of an academic administrative appointment to direct the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS). In our view, the Task Force faces insurmountable conflicts of interest, is a poorly veiled attempt to sidestep the core issues raised by administrative interference in Segal’s hiring, and is a flagrant circumvention of shared governance institutions. As such, it cannot produce the “shared understanding” with which it is charged. If the administration will not disband it, we ask you to resign from it. Below we outline in more detail each of our concerns.
Given these grave concerns, we call on you to resign from the Administrative Hiring Task Force, and to urge the administration to disband the Task Force and channel any discussions about the Raz Segal affair and its broader implications to shared governance bodies. We do not make this request lightly, but given the gravity of the issues at stake we see no alternative course of action. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss these concerns further with you both individually and as a committee.
Sincerely,
The Executive Committee of the AAUP-UMTC:
William P. Jones, President
Heather E. Holcombe, Vice President
Teri L. Caraway, Treasurer
Gopalan Nadathur, Secretary
Nathaniel Mills, Member-at-Large
Ruth G. Shaw, Member-at-Large
--------------------------------------------
Bill McGeveran, Dean, University of Minnesota Law School, Chair
Frank Bates, Regents Professor, Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, CSE
Ann Masten, Regents Professor, Institute of Child Development, CEHD
Diane Neumark Sztainer, Regents Professor, Epidemiology, SPH
Peh Ng, Chair, Division of Science and Mathematics, UMN Morris
Steven Ruggles, Regents Professor, History Department, CLA
Marlene Zuk, Regents Professor, Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, CBS
Ex officio:
Brent Benrud, Senior Associate General Counsel, OGC
Ole Gram, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs, EVPP
Jon Guden, Interim Chief Compliance Officer
Jason Langworthy, Associate Secretary, OBR
Andrea Yanego, Talent Acquisition Director, OHR
Dear Administrative Hiring Task Force,
As leaders of the university’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, we are writing to express grave concern about the Administrative Hiring Task Force, on which you have agreed to serve. As you know, President Cunningham directed the Provost to form the committee in response to objections raised by faculty and others about Interim President Ettinger’s decision to rescind an offer of an academic administrative appointment to direct the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS). In our view, the Task Force faces insurmountable conflicts of interest, is a poorly veiled attempt to sidestep the core issues raised by administrative interference in Segal’s hiring, and is a flagrant circumvention of shared governance institutions. As such, it cannot produce the “shared understanding” with which it is charged. If the administration will not disband it, we ask you to resign from it. Below we outline in more detail each of our concerns.
- The Task Force’s Findings Will Be Illegitimate Because of Flagrant Conflicts of Interest. The faculty spoke on this issue last summer when both the Faculty Senate and the Assembly of the College of Liberal Arts voted no confidence in Interim President Ettinger and Provost Croson because of their unprecedented intervention in the CHGS director hire. To have Provost Croson handpick a committee to reconsider the relevant policy issues at stake is an obvious conflict of interest. As such, any report that the Task Force produces will be seen as illegitimate.
- The Task Force’s Charge Does Not Encompass the Central Issue of Academic Freedom. The narrow charge of the committee–to examine and come to a “shared understanding” of policies that pertain to hiring authority–sidesteps the core value at stake: academic freedom. The disagreement between the faculty and the administration was not purely about whether current policy empowered the president to override a dean’s academic hiring decision. At the heart of the matter was the question of whether it is appropriate for a president to intervene in a faculty-led search process that was conducted in accord with existing procedures. The Task Force may conclude that Interim President Ettinger had the authority to revoke CLA’s offer to Raz Segal, and consider its work to be done. But this conclusion would not result in shared understandings about the salient issues, for two reasons. First, by exercising this presumed authority, the administration violated academic freedom, which is a core value of our University that is also protected by a Board of Regents policy. Second, such a conclusion does not address the consensus–evidenced by the no confidence votes–that the administration violated long-established norms about the faculty’s authority and autonomy in academic hiring decisions. The Task Force report would therefore not resolve the issues at the heart of the Segal affair.
- The Task Force Circumvents Shared Governance Institutions. The stated goal of the Task Force is to find a “shared understanding” of current policies. The appropriate venue for such discussions is the Faculty Senate, in particular the Senate Committee on Faculty Affairs (SCFA) and the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee (AF&T). Unlike task forces, these bodies are accountable to the Faculty Senate. They also hold public meetings, unlike task forces that may choose to meet behind closed doors. The administration’s deliberate circumvention of these bodies creates the impression that it has formed the Task Force out of fear that shared governance institutions, which voted no confidence in the previous administration, will not produce the answer that it wants. By forming a rival entity outside of shared governance institutions, the administration hopes to get an answer it prefers. In our view, the formation of the Task Force is not only deeply disrespectful to faculty but also an open affront to core principles and processes of shared governance at our university.
Given these grave concerns, we call on you to resign from the Administrative Hiring Task Force, and to urge the administration to disband the Task Force and channel any discussions about the Raz Segal affair and its broader implications to shared governance bodies. We do not make this request lightly, but given the gravity of the issues at stake we see no alternative course of action. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss these concerns further with you both individually and as a committee.
Sincerely,
The Executive Committee of the AAUP-UMTC:
William P. Jones, President
Heather E. Holcombe, Vice President
Teri L. Caraway, Treasurer
Gopalan Nadathur, Secretary
Nathaniel Mills, Member-at-Large
Ruth G. Shaw, Member-at-Large