The reason that U of Mississippi gives for cancelling Garrett Felber's grant (before they fired him) is, essentially, that he didn't allow them to intervene in the proposal before he applied for the grant. I'd like to know if other faculty's proposals received such interference.
https://twitter.com/driftinghouse/status/1339271202469240836
Chief Marketing & Comms Officer: "If he'd followed UM’s process of engaging with external funders, his dept chair would have had the opportunity to advise him on how best to align his proposal with the dept’s research, teaching & service as articulated in its mission statement."
Couple this requirement with the fact that the department chair cancelled the grant after Felber received it: that is a violation of academic freedom.
This is all very ugly. U of Mississippi sociologist James Thomas was also targeted by the Mississippi state auditor "for participating in #ScholarStrike, an anti-racism educational effort among college academics across the United States."
“I’m just so deeply dismayed by the willingness of faculty and administrators at all levels of the university who acquiesce to the will of these powerful racist, donors,” Felber told this reporter in October.
Felber in a message to colleagues: "I gather that Dr. Wilson’s decision to recommend my termination was taken unilaterally, without consulting tenured faculty, or perhaps any other faculty at all."
insidehighered.com/news/2020/12/1…
insidehighered.com/news/2020/12/1…
His firing "came as a 'shocking development,' as Wilson in April 'summarized in my Faculty Activity Report that I had "a successful year" for both teaching & research that fulfilled expectations for tenure & promotion, and ‘a phenomenal year of service for a jr faculty member.’”
"So what changed? In her termination letter to Felber, Wilson wrote that since late October, 'you have refused to speak to me. I asked that you confirm your availability for a call. You emailed me the following day but did not say when we could talk."
"You instead told me ‘that any future conversations about the program and these grants should be done over email.’”
Putting it in writing was not the department chair's preferred option, it seems.
Putting it in writing was not the department chair's preferred option, it seems.
“Since Dr. Wilson was clear that the decision to reject the October grant was made on behalf of the entire department, I made repeated requests that a written explanation for the grant rejection be given to all faculty before agreeing to meet with Dr. Wilson about this matter.”
"Anyhow, Felber said that the 'notion that my relationship with Dr. Wilson had reached the point where I was not on speaking terms with her has no basis in fact. As she explains in her letter, I responded to each and every email she sent me.'"
(I like Flaherty's sassy "anyhow.")
(I like Flaherty's sassy "anyhow.")
Twitty continued, “What I will say is the last couple years have been incredibly challenging, with a lot of things happening on campus that are deeply disturbing.”
"This fall, for instance, the university has stayed mum on the Mississippi state auditor’s months-long investigation of sociologist James Thomas for his participation in the national #ScholarStrike and virtual teach-in for racial justice."
"Thousands of academics joined in the September event, but Republican auditor Shad White zeroed in on Thomas, demanding that he be fired for violating Mississippi’s no-strike law for public employees, and even sending agents to Thomas’s home."
"White recently demanded that Thomas repay the state nearly $2,000 in lost labor and investigation costs. Thomas’s lawyer has countered that if the state wants to do some deep accounting, then Thomas has performed many more hours of uncompensated labor during his time on campus."
"Ole Miss has referred to the case as a personnel matter and declined comment."
Shame on them for not standing up for their faculty member.
Shame on them for not standing up for their faculty member.
"Also this year, in a debate in which Twitty was involved, the university proposed erecting new headstones for Confederate soldiers -- whose identities and exact burial locations are unclear -- in an on-campus cemetery that houses Ole Miss’s newly relocated Confederate monument."
"Ole Miss put its permanent ombudsperson, Paul J. Caffera, on administrative leave after he sued to stop the uni from compelling him to share confidential information about faculty, staff and graduate students who spoke to him privately about campus climate issues."
"Twitty said members of the department requested an emergency meeting with Wilson but had not heard back as of Wednesday afternoon."
It appears the dept head is allowed to not respond immediately to a request from the faculty she's supervising. Unlike the way around, uh-hm.
It appears the dept head is allowed to not respond immediately to a request from the faculty she's supervising. Unlike the way around, uh-hm.
You know, I don't get the reasoning of this department chair. I understand there's no faculty union, no collective agreement what would have checked her and any other admin who tried to push this decision. But there's a department. Her colleagues.
https://twitter.com/Katja_Thieme/status/1339686956041572352?s=20
She didn't think this would be an outrageous decision in their eyes, endangering their #academicfreedom alongside trashing that of Garrett Felber? She didn't think that the faculty she represents would protest? That her reputation would be at stake?
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