Letter to President Cunningham Expressing Continued Disappointment Regarding CHGS Directorship, July 22, 2024
On July 1, 2024 the AAUP executive committee of the Twin Cities chapter sent this letter to President Cunningham regarding the CHGS Directorship. On July 15, 2024 the President's Office responds with the following terse, and disappointing, email:
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To the members of the executive committee of the AAUP-UMTC:
Thank you for this email and the information you have shared with President Cunningham. In case you have not already read it, please see this message, which the president just sent to systemwide faculty and staff.
Wishing you well,
the Office of the President
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The following is an email sent to President Cunningham from the executive committee on July 22, 2024 expressing disappointment in this response.
July 22, 2024
Dear President Cunningham,
We are writing to express our disappointment in your response to the letter that the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Association of University Professors sent to you on July 1. While we appreciate that you responded to our letter, the mass email that you sent on July 15 regarding the CHGS directorship (and that you forwarded to us as a response to our letter) did not address the core issues that we raised.
Your response gives the impression that you are not taking the concerns that we raised seriously. These concerns cannot be brushed off with a “let’s look forward, not backward” attitude. Both the CLA Assembly and the Faculty Senate voted no confidence in President Ettinger and Provost Croson for their actions regarding the Segal hire, a decision that the faculty representatives in these bodies did not take lightly. The Academic Freedom & Tenure Committee also expressed grave reservations about the President’s decision. Having Provost Croson, in whom the faculty voted no confidence, appoint a hand-picked task force and organize symposia on academic freedom has a tone of dismissal, and may be read as a deliberate counter to faculty-led initiatives.
Your message conveys the impression that you do not plan to take action to correct either the violations of academic freedom or of hiring norms and procedures. In our view, the only way to repair the harm done to core university values by President Ettinger’s reckless decision is to reinstate the original offer to Raz Segal. The no confidence votes show that this view is widely shared among the faculty. If you refuse to reinstate the original offer, then you should at least explain your decision. This explanation should engage directly the concerns that have been raised about violations of academic freedom and hiring norms and procedures.
Sincerely,
The Executive Committee of the AAUP-UMTC
Sumanth Gopinath, President
Heather Holcombe, Vice President
Teri Caraway, Treasurer
Gopalan Nadathur, Secretary
Nathaniel Mills, Member-at-Large
Ruth Shaw, Member-at-Large
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To the members of the executive committee of the AAUP-UMTC:
Thank you for this email and the information you have shared with President Cunningham. In case you have not already read it, please see this message, which the president just sent to systemwide faculty and staff.
Wishing you well,
the Office of the President
--------------------------------
The following is an email sent to President Cunningham from the executive committee on July 22, 2024 expressing disappointment in this response.
July 22, 2024
Dear President Cunningham,
We are writing to express our disappointment in your response to the letter that the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Association of University Professors sent to you on July 1. While we appreciate that you responded to our letter, the mass email that you sent on July 15 regarding the CHGS directorship (and that you forwarded to us as a response to our letter) did not address the core issues that we raised.
Your response gives the impression that you are not taking the concerns that we raised seriously. These concerns cannot be brushed off with a “let’s look forward, not backward” attitude. Both the CLA Assembly and the Faculty Senate voted no confidence in President Ettinger and Provost Croson for their actions regarding the Segal hire, a decision that the faculty representatives in these bodies did not take lightly. The Academic Freedom & Tenure Committee also expressed grave reservations about the President’s decision. Having Provost Croson, in whom the faculty voted no confidence, appoint a hand-picked task force and organize symposia on academic freedom has a tone of dismissal, and may be read as a deliberate counter to faculty-led initiatives.
Your message conveys the impression that you do not plan to take action to correct either the violations of academic freedom or of hiring norms and procedures. In our view, the only way to repair the harm done to core university values by President Ettinger’s reckless decision is to reinstate the original offer to Raz Segal. The no confidence votes show that this view is widely shared among the faculty. If you refuse to reinstate the original offer, then you should at least explain your decision. This explanation should engage directly the concerns that have been raised about violations of academic freedom and hiring norms and procedures.
Sincerely,
The Executive Committee of the AAUP-UMTC
Sumanth Gopinath, President
Heather Holcombe, Vice President
Teri Caraway, Treasurer
Gopalan Nadathur, Secretary
Nathaniel Mills, Member-at-Large
Ruth Shaw, Member-at-Large