Letter to President Cunningham Regarding CHGS Directorship, July 1 2024
The following is an email sent to President Cunningham from the executive committee on July 1, 2024 urging the reinstatement of the CHGS Directorship offer to Professor Raz Segal.
July 1, 2024
Dear President Cunningham,
We are writing to you regarding President Ettinger’s retraction of a job offer that the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) extended to Professor Raz Segal, a highly regarded scholar of genocide. As you know, the original offer was for a combined appointment as the director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) and a tenured faculty position in the Department of History in CLA. As explained below, the Executive Committee of our campus chapter of the American Association of University of Professors believes President Ettinger's action to be in violation of the principles of academic freedom and academic governance as it applies to our institution. Accordingly, we urge you to reverse the retraction of this offer.
Academic freedom: President Ettinger’s retraction of Professor Segal’s offer is an egregious violation of the University of Minnesota’s Regents Policy on Academic Freedom and Responsibility, which protects the right to “speak or write without institutional discipline or restraint on matters of public concern as well as matters related to the professional duties and the functioning of the University.” President Ettinger’s rationale for retracting the offer was that community members objected to hiring Professor Segal to lead the CHGS because of his views regarding Israel’s campaign in Gaza. The Provost’s subsequent proposal to extend a full faculty position to Professor Segal in the Department of History sidesteps the core academic freedom issues related to the center directorship appointment and therefore does not resolve this matter. The job posting for the directorship clearly advertised it as an academic appointment that required a distinguished record of scholarship. Both the directorship and the faculty position are therefore protected by academic freedom. Unhiring Professor Segal because of his opinions on a matter of public concern violates the University’s policies on academic freedom and sets a disturbing and worrisome precedent that has implications beyond this specific case. It invites other groups to weaponize their disagreement with a scholar’s views and to challenge future center director and faculty hires. Publicly engaged scholars will fear that their external engagement—which should be encouraged at a public university—may be used against them. The University of Minnesota’s reputation as a national leader on academic freedom is in serious peril as a result of President Ettinger’s decision to unhire Professor Segal.
Departures from principles of academic governance: President Ettinger’s retraction of a college’s legitimate job offer is unprecedented at the University of Minnesota and departed significantly from principles of academic governance. With respect to hiring center directors, CLA’s Constitution [Section 4,c] vests authority in the Dean. The College carried out the CHGS director search in accordance with collegiate and university policies. With respect to the faculty position, it has been the practice at our institution for the central administration to respect collegiate authority in matters of faculty hiring. Since the faculty appointment was a tenured position, Professor Segal’s appointment for this position would not have been finalized until the tenure review process was concluded. The History department was ready to commence its review, but President Ettinger’s retraction of the offer interrupted this process. President Ettinger’s unilateral withdrawal of both the directorship and the faculty position not only disrespected the assessments of a search committee comprising eminent scholars with deep expertise in the Holocaust and in genocide, it also showed flagrant disregard for the rules and norms that govern our institution.
Prior to your arrival, faculty at our institution and around the world endeavored to help President Ettinger and Provost Croson understand the grave consequences of this decision. Our AAUP chapter and the Faculty Senate’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure wrote letters to the President and the Provost expressing concerns about their serious violations of academic freedom and breach of institutional policies. Numerous faculty members also wrote personal notes to President Ettinger. (You received copies of many of these letters.) After President Ettinger made the decision, faculty leaders in the University also met with him to voice their concerns. Beyond our University, an open letter condemning President Ettinger for rescinding Segal’s offer accrued 1,106 signatures from scholars from around the world, many of them from Israel. Scholars affiliated with the Middle East Studies Association who share subject matter expertise with Professor Segal also wrote to President Ettinger asking him to reverse his decision. He refused to reverse course, however, so the CLA Assembly and the University’s Faculty Senate voted no confidence in his and Provost Croson’s leadership.
President Ettinger’s decision was hasty and ill-considered. It violated bedrock principles of our institution concerning academic freedom and academic governance. And it has consequently broken the faculty’s trust in the central administration and done severe damage to the University’s international reputation. We call on you to repair this damage by reinstating the original offer and allowing the hiring process to proceed.
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
July 1, 2024
Dear President Cunningham,
We are writing to you regarding President Ettinger’s retraction of a job offer that the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) extended to Professor Raz Segal, a highly regarded scholar of genocide. As you know, the original offer was for a combined appointment as the director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) and a tenured faculty position in the Department of History in CLA. As explained below, the Executive Committee of our campus chapter of the American Association of University of Professors believes President Ettinger's action to be in violation of the principles of academic freedom and academic governance as it applies to our institution. Accordingly, we urge you to reverse the retraction of this offer.
Academic freedom: President Ettinger’s retraction of Professor Segal’s offer is an egregious violation of the University of Minnesota’s Regents Policy on Academic Freedom and Responsibility, which protects the right to “speak or write without institutional discipline or restraint on matters of public concern as well as matters related to the professional duties and the functioning of the University.” President Ettinger’s rationale for retracting the offer was that community members objected to hiring Professor Segal to lead the CHGS because of his views regarding Israel’s campaign in Gaza. The Provost’s subsequent proposal to extend a full faculty position to Professor Segal in the Department of History sidesteps the core academic freedom issues related to the center directorship appointment and therefore does not resolve this matter. The job posting for the directorship clearly advertised it as an academic appointment that required a distinguished record of scholarship. Both the directorship and the faculty position are therefore protected by academic freedom. Unhiring Professor Segal because of his opinions on a matter of public concern violates the University’s policies on academic freedom and sets a disturbing and worrisome precedent that has implications beyond this specific case. It invites other groups to weaponize their disagreement with a scholar’s views and to challenge future center director and faculty hires. Publicly engaged scholars will fear that their external engagement—which should be encouraged at a public university—may be used against them. The University of Minnesota’s reputation as a national leader on academic freedom is in serious peril as a result of President Ettinger’s decision to unhire Professor Segal.
Departures from principles of academic governance: President Ettinger’s retraction of a college’s legitimate job offer is unprecedented at the University of Minnesota and departed significantly from principles of academic governance. With respect to hiring center directors, CLA’s Constitution [Section 4,c] vests authority in the Dean. The College carried out the CHGS director search in accordance with collegiate and university policies. With respect to the faculty position, it has been the practice at our institution for the central administration to respect collegiate authority in matters of faculty hiring. Since the faculty appointment was a tenured position, Professor Segal’s appointment for this position would not have been finalized until the tenure review process was concluded. The History department was ready to commence its review, but President Ettinger’s retraction of the offer interrupted this process. President Ettinger’s unilateral withdrawal of both the directorship and the faculty position not only disrespected the assessments of a search committee comprising eminent scholars with deep expertise in the Holocaust and in genocide, it also showed flagrant disregard for the rules and norms that govern our institution.
Prior to your arrival, faculty at our institution and around the world endeavored to help President Ettinger and Provost Croson understand the grave consequences of this decision. Our AAUP chapter and the Faculty Senate’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure wrote letters to the President and the Provost expressing concerns about their serious violations of academic freedom and breach of institutional policies. Numerous faculty members also wrote personal notes to President Ettinger. (You received copies of many of these letters.) After President Ettinger made the decision, faculty leaders in the University also met with him to voice their concerns. Beyond our University, an open letter condemning President Ettinger for rescinding Segal’s offer accrued 1,106 signatures from scholars from around the world, many of them from Israel. Scholars affiliated with the Middle East Studies Association who share subject matter expertise with Professor Segal also wrote to President Ettinger asking him to reverse his decision. He refused to reverse course, however, so the CLA Assembly and the University’s Faculty Senate voted no confidence in his and Provost Croson’s leadership.
President Ettinger’s decision was hasty and ill-considered. It violated bedrock principles of our institution concerning academic freedom and academic governance. And it has consequently broken the faculty’s trust in the central administration and done severe damage to the University’s international reputation. We call on you to repair this damage by reinstating the original offer and allowing the hiring process to proceed.
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