A press release about DePaul Prof's privacy rights

10/31/2007
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

www.academicfreedomchicago.org
Media Contact:
Daniel Klimek
773-817-1291
Dpk24g@gmail.com

Tenure Process Violated DePaul Professor's Rights,
Review Board says

Professor Mehrene Larudee's rights were violated by DePaul University
during her tenure process, according to a Review Board decision
issued October 26. Unanimously approved for tenure by her department,
the International Studies Program, as well as the College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences (LA&S), she was turned down by the University Board
on Promotion and Tenure (UBPT) in May, and the president denied her
tenure in June. It is widely thought that she was denied for
supporting Prof. Norman Finkelstein during his controversial tenure
case last spring.

According to the Faculty Handbook, Larudee should have been notified
promptly both of the fact that the UBPT had voted against tenure for
her and of the reasons why. Had this rule been followed, she would
have had a chance to give the President reasons to reverse the UBPT
decision. The Review Board agreed that her rights were violated, but
offered no remedy, saying the Handbook has no defined mechanism for a
response to the President. Larudee insists the Handbook does define a
right to respond. The Review Board also rejected her separate claim
that her academic freedom was violated.

The Review Board ignored evidence, too, that the UBPT failed to use
criteria prescribed in the Faculty Handbook to evaluate her
performance, as the lower levels had. Many at DePaul wonder why the
UBPT failed to follow the written guidelines, and why the Review
Board made no response to Larudee's objections. Possibly the Review
Board decided this was beyond the scope of their mandate. If so, says
senior International Studies student Evan Lorendo, "I strongly
disagree. It implies that many rules for evaluating faculty for
tenure in the Faculty Handbook are unenforceable." Victor Lang, a
senior Economics student, says, "Larudee is an excellent instructor,
a good scholar and should be tenured. This is a loss for the students
of the International Studies Program."

The Review Board of three, a dean and two faculty, of whom one
recently served as an administrator, excluded faculty from the
College of LA&S where Larudee and about half of DePaul faculty
teach. Its decision stands in stark contrast to a recent report by
an ad hoc Academic Freedom Task Force of faculty in the College of
LA&S. The report insisted that if a candidate is endorsed for tenure
at the department and college levels—as Larudee was—then the UBPT may
only reverse that decision by uncovering procedural error or bias at
the lower levels. The UBPT decision against Larudee's tenure cited no
such procedural error or bias.

Larudee is exploring further action to challenge the tenure denial.

The denial of tenure to Larudee, and the fact that the Review Board
sustained that decision, has created a state of uncertainty regarding
the rights of faculty at DePaul University. Junior faculty in
particular are feeling pressure to avoid any stance that may be
construed as controversial.

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