Students protest removal of lecturer’s job
Lecturer Jerome Bauer might be out of a job – but not if his students have anything to say about it. The religious studies department recently informed Bauer that his position as lecturer would be replaced with the position of assistant professor. The new position is not reserved for Bauer, but rather he, along with all other qualified applicants, are invited to apply for it. Both Bauer and some of his students have taken action against this new academic opening.
The positions of lecturer and professor have substantive differences. University lecturers are considered to be in the “Teaching Track” and are therefore not expected to regularly write and publish research papers, as per the “public or perish” rule common to the realm of academia. An inter-department move from lecturer to assistant professor would require Bauer to research and publish papers.
“The Religious Studies Program and I,” wrote Bauer in an open letter protesting the religious studies department’s actions, “have had an agreement: I would pursue diligently the ‘Teaching Track,’ not looking for a job elsewhere, in exchange for a reasonable semblance of job security. I would sacrifice other “career goals” for my vocation, mentorship of our students. This I have done, faithfully. Now this University is not keeping its end of the bargain.”
Department Chair Beata Grant said no such agreement was reached.
“The lecturer position in South Asian religions that Bauer has held for the past several years was from the very beginning designated as a temporary lecturer position that would eventually be upgraded to a regular tenure-track position,” Grant wrote in an e-mail.
Grant explained that “the Department’s decision to upgrade the lecturer position in Religious Studies reflects a strong commitment on the part of the University to build Religious Studies, a commitment that includes a recent tenure-line hire in Islamic studies, a current search for a tenure-line position in the history of Christianity, and future searches in areas such as American Religious History.”
According to Bauer, he expected to receive a promotion to senior lecturer.
“Last year.the program was promoting me to senior lecturer,” said Bauer. But “last spring, I was told my position would be eliminated after a year. They [University administration] really need to rethink their strategy.”
Bauer thinks that the University’s stance towards lecturers, both in and outside the Religious Studies Program, needs significant revisions.
“Some sort of reasonable job security would be good for this community,” he said.
Furthermore, Bauer has argued for the expansion of the Religious Studies Program into a department, noting a rise in the program’s popularity among undergraduate students.
“If it were a department, then faculty would have better job security. With Religious Studies, we are embattled from both the left and the right. It’s a controversial discipline, and I think it would be better with a more secure status. It’s about time the University reevaluate its strategy with Religious Studies.”
Undergraduate students have lent support to Bauer through signing a petition to retain him as a lecturer. Senior Nivedita Kulkarni began the petition three years weeks ago at an Ashoka meeting.
“I really hope the University sees how great he is with the students,” said Kulkarni. “I understand the University is upset at his not publishing research, but he does far more for the students.”
Within a week of starting the petition, Kulkarni had over 100 signatures from Ashoka members.
Bauer himself was surprised at the degree of support he received from his students, noting that a number of undergraduates asked to take his courses even if he left the University. The University, said Bauer, should pay attention to undergraduates’ stances regarding employment of faculty.
“They’ve been very, very helpful. I’ve been trying to stay out of University politics; when I first got the news, I was in shock. It turns out I had a lot of student support. If the students like what lecturers do, I think the University ought to listen. It’s only reasonable.”
Bauer noted that his situation was not unique, and encouraged individuals who wanted to primarily go into teaching and lecturing at Universities.
“I support all lecturers at the University and [support] more respect for people who want to teach. A lot of it comes down to respect.”
Ultimately, Bauer hoped that the University would reconsider its stances toward lecturers like himself in all departments and programs.
“The University must restore the lecturer’s position in Religious Studies,” Bauer continued in his open letter, “and must also restore employment to other unjustly terminated lecturers. This is a matter of justice. If these reasonable requests are not met, I will stay here as I have promised to do, working for the community in whatever way I can.”
Popularity: 1% [?]
Related Posts
Print This Post
On December 13, 2010 at 4:15 pm jeromehbauer said
When this article was first published I posted a brief comment contesting Professor Grant’s statements. This has been offline since Autumn 08, when the Student Life format changed. I will have more to say now, reiterating what I have consistently said on my website, Facebook pages, and email, all archived or still online.
****************
“The religious studies department recently informed Bauer that his position as lecturer would be replaced with the position of assistant professor. The new position is not reserved for Bauer, but rather he, along with all other qualified applicants, are invited to apply for it. Both Bauer and some of his students have taken action against this new academic opening.”
This is the official story. Actually, I had no chance, and this was well understood by all parties well before the announcement. For example, in Autumn 05 Professor Grant, as I handed her a flyer for a Students for Fair Trade event hosted by the WashU CoOp, observed, “Oh, you work so HARD… It’s not because you are not academically qualified…” I had a good idea what “IT” meant, but at that time I did not really believe they would go through with “IT,” even though when I had approached Personnel for my forgivable housing loan application just a few weeks earlier, the administrator remarked, “Oh, you are still on the payroll,” a curious and notable remark. At the meeting at which “IT” was announced, with Professors Grant and Karamustafa, neither pretended that I had a chance. I was told “You don’t have to be a one man religious studies department anymore,” “The Dean did not say you were a bad person” (so my character was impugned?), “The Bush Administration told the Dean we cannot wait any longer.” “The Dean told us your [low vision] teaching is unsustainable.” “But this will not affect your teaching for us in University College, or Webster, or Forest Park Community College. We just need to help you get a day job so you can keep your health insurance, perhaps an Assistant Deanship or a staff job in a dormitory.” Finally, “We know how creative you are. We know you’ll cook up something.” They knew me well enough to know I would “cook up” something for them, not just for myself. They knew they could count on me to work for them to get their Lectureship back.
Later that semester, in an email communication with Focus Program Dean Delores Kennedy, she did not even bother to pretend that I had a chance at this “upgrade.” I called her on it immediately, cc’ing my response to Professor Grant, a few colleagues, and Dean Jim McLeod (who seemed embarrassed and apologetic).
In Spring 07, all four of the short listed applicants allegedly had a letter of recommendation from the same professor, allegedly from my college teacher Professor Wendy Doniger of The University of Chicago (according to a couple of reliable anonymous sources with inside information). Professor Doniger’s students dominate the field allegedly due to aggressive marketing and personal power projection, and many (especially traditional Hindus and trained Indologists) regard her work as the epitome of bad feminist scholarship (though I and my students have been inspired by her work, and I have been her biggest booster on campus from 99-07, though I gave equal time to her critics, such as Swami Tyagananda and Rajiv Malhotra). Only one of the job talks was held in public. One interview was held in a small classroom adjacent to my special session of “Miracles, Marvels, and Magic” for two students with a schedule confict. I overheard part of the interview as I passed by. I was not extended even the courtesy of job talk, a very unusual insult to me and to my doctoral alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania (a serious rival to Chicago).
Lecturer Dr. Jerome Bauer
Initiative to Reform Lecturer’s Policy and Provide Fairer Deals to Adjuncts
–MA, University of California, Santa Barbara, Religious Studies (I turned down admission to the MA program in History of Religions at The University of Chicago, to work with Wendy Doniger with full tuition remission)
–PhD, University of Pennsylvania, in the Department Formerly Known as Oriental Studies (I turned down admission to the PhD program in History of Religions, to work with Wendy Doniger with the prestigious History of Religion Fellowship, providing full tuition and a generous stipend)
http://www.cfu-lc.com/victory.htm
On December 13, 2010 at 4:28 pm Jerome Bauer said
”According to Bauer, he expected to receive a promotion to senior lecturer.
“Last year.the program was promoting me to senior lecturer,” said Bauer. But “last spring, I was told my position would be eliminated after a year. They [University administration] really need to rethink their strategy.””
This may or may not be a verbatim quote, but I did say something like this. In Autumn 03 I sent a message to all my colleagues in Religious Studies (as I did once or twice every year, the only faculty member who did so), informing them that I wished to pursue the “teaching track” outlined in the newly revised Lecturer’s Policy. Then Program Chair Ahmet Karamustafa acknowledged this, and informed me “Teaching is your only duty.” When Professor Grant took over as Chair in Autumn 04, I met with her in her office to discuss this. She gave me verbal assent and discussed strategies. I also told her of my sustainable low vision teaching, and my preparation for worsening vision, and she expressed her admiration.
When news of the purported elimination of my Lecturer’s position was announced, I had been teaching at WashU for seven years, one year more than the supposed time limit for a Lecturer, after which we are supposed to be promoted to Senior Lecturer or let go. The policy is quite clear on this point, though the vague reference to the “needs of the program” make arbitrary termination quite easy. When the news was announced, it was hardly possible to walk across campus without walking right through a debate between outraged students and administrators. To his credit, Dean Jim McLeod seemed always to be out there with the students, as a good Dean of Students should always be, and he would always wave to me. On one of these occasions I overheard him tell a student that I was a “special case,” apparently for medical reasons (advanced glaucoma, requiring specialist treatment and repeated surgery, including one at WashU in Spring 03). This seems to be the justification the University had for violating their own Lecturer’s Policy in my case, and stringing me along in medical job lock for eight years, even as a clandestine search to replace me was underway since the first year of my employment (so I was told by two sympathetic colleagues, and I had figured it out on my own, since I know the politics of South Asian Religious Studies as well as anyone).
On December 13, 2010 at 4:41 pm jeromehbauer said
“Undergraduate students have lent support to Bauer through signing a petition to retain him as a lecturer. Senior Nivedita Kulkarni began the petition three years weeks ago at an Ashoka meeting.”
I first learned of the Ashoka petition during the interview with the Student Life reporter, whom I informed of two other petitions, one started by my Freshman Focus student Ben Rivera (whose place I was in line to take in the Student Worker Alliance hunger strike). This was signed by almost the entire WashU CoOp within twenty four hours of the news, before I received a call from Ben asking permission to petition on my behalf. i then gratefully granted it. Another petition was circulated by my Religious Studies and free university student Justin Strohm, who later combined all three petitions (c. 500 signatures) for presentation to Student Union, Student Life, and the administration. KWUR also did a benefit concert at the CoOp (proceeds went to the CoOp garden fund), and students painted the underpass in protest. Students also sold t-shirts, the proceeds supposed to go to the Vedanta Society or Jobs With Justice.
************************
““The University must restore the lecturer’s position in Religious Studies,” Bauer continued in his open letter, “and must also restore employment to other unjustly terminated lecturers. This is a matter of justice. If these reasonable requests are not met, I will stay here as I have promised to do, working for the community in whatever way I can.””
Please see my comments on Student Life’s “Open Letter to Professor Jeff Smith,” whose relevance will become obvious. When we compared notes, we made the connection, and saw the pattern. When I announced on my website (shortly before this article was published) that I would not seek employment elsewhere but would stay here, in solidarity, until our common issues are resolved, I had no idea how this would be received. Instead of being heckled, I was congratulated by random people when I went to campus that day. I overheard a couple of administrators: “He may be helping somebody else, but he sure isn’t helping himself.” Exactly.
On December 17, 2010 at 8:46 pm Jerome Bauer said
NOTE: when I first tried to post this article, on December 13, the Monday after our very suceessful launch of the StLouis Progressive News Aggregator Site, http://www.forwardstl.net, NOT a Democrat Party Machine vehicle as it has been misreported to be, I was blocked from posting to studlife. I took out a new account, jeromehbauer, through WordPress, but now, December 17, I am disappointed to learn that two of my posts are still invisible, unless I am logged on to that account. What can you all see? I would like to know. No matter. Here I am again, reposting the two items that are still invisible. These have of course been posted to Facebook, as I always do, and they will soon be reposted to my Google-searched blog sites, so there is no use blocking this. May the Force be with us all!
This and my other repost will be slightly edited, improved and strengthened.
“When this article was first published I posted a brief comment contesting Professor Grant’s statements. This has been offline since Autumn 08, when the Student Life format changed. I will have more to say now, reiterating what I have consistently said on my website, Facebook pages, and email, all archived or still online.
****************
“The religious studies department recently informed Bauer that his position as lecturer would be replaced with the position of assistant professor. The new position is not reserved for Bauer, but rather he, along with all other qualified applicants, are invited to apply for it. Both Bauer and some of his students have taken action against this new academic opening.”
This is the official story. Actually, I had no chance, and this was well understood by all parties well before the announcement. For example, in Autumn 05 Professor Grant, as I handed her a flyer for a Students for Fair Trade event hosted by the WashU CoOp, observed, “Oh, you work so HARD… It’s not because you are not academically qualified…” I had a good idea what “IT” meant, but at that time I did not really believe they would go through with “IT,” even though when I had approached Personnel for my forgivable housing loan application just a few weeks earlier, the administrator remarked, “Oh, you are still on the payroll,” a curious and notable remark. At the meeting at which “IT” was announced, with Professors Grant and Karamustafa, neither pretended that I had a chance. I was told “You don’t have to be a one man religious studies department anymore,” “The Dean did not say you were a bad person” (so my character was impugned?), “The Bush Administration told the Dean we cannot wait any longer.” “The Dean told us your [low vision] teaching is unsustainable.” “But this will not affect your teaching for us in University College, or Webster, or Forest Park Community College. We just need to help you get a day job so you can keep your health insurance, perhaps an Assistant Deanship or a staff job in a dormitory.” Finally, “We know how creative you are. We know you’ll cook up something.” They knew me well enough to know I would “cook up” something for them, not just for myself. They knew they could count on me to work for them to get their Lectureship back.
Later that semester, in an email communication with Focus Program Dean Delores Kennedy, she did not even bother to pretend that I had a chance at this “upgrade.” I called her on it immediately, cc’ing my response to Professor Grant, a few colleagues, and Dean Jim McLeod (who seemed embarrassed and apologetic). I sent an email back, suggesting that I had a better idea: I will stay here, and you can leave. One of my best colleagues said to me, “That Dean had it coming.” I stand by this.
In Spring 07, all four of the short listed applicants allegedly had a letter of recommendation from the same professor, allegedly from my college teacher, the famously thin-skinned Professor Wendy Doniger of The University of Chicago (according to a couple of reliable anonymous sources with inside information). Professor Doniger’s students dominate the field allegedly due to aggressive marketing and personal power projection, and many (especially traditional Hindus and trained Indologists) regard her work as the epitome of bad feminist scholarship (though I and my students have been inspired by her work, requiring the library to buy all her books, and I have been her biggest booster on campus from 99-07, though I gave equal time to her critics, such as Swami Tyagananda and Rajiv Malhotra). Only one of the job talks was held in public. One interview was held in a small classroom adjacent to my special session of “Miracles, Marvels, and Magic” for two students with a schedule confict. I overheard part of the interview as I passed by. I was not extended even the courtesy of job talk, a very unusual insult to me and to my doctoral alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania (a serious rival to Chicago).
Lecturer Dr. Jerome Bauer
Initiative to Reform Lecturer’s Policy and Provide Fairer Deals to Adjuncts
–MA, University of California, Santa Barbara, Religious Studies (I turned down admission to the MA program in History of Religions at The University of Chicago, to work with Wendy Doniger with full tuition remission)
–PhD, University of Pennsylvania, in the Department Formerly Known as Oriental Studies (I turned down admission to the PhD program in History of Religions, to work with Wendy Doniger with the prestigious History of Religion Fellowship, providing full tuition and a generous stipend)
—just in case anybody says “sour grapes” to me…
http://www.cfu-lc.com/victory.htm
On December 17, 2010 at 8:58 pm Jerome Bauer said
NOTE: when I first tried to post this article, on December 13, the Monday after our very suceessful launch of the StLouis Progressive News Aggregator Site, http://www.forwardstl.net, NOT a Democrat Party Machine vehicle as it has been misreported to be, I was blocked from posting to studlife. I took out a new account, jeromehbauer, through WordPress, but now, December 17, I am disappointed to learn that two of my posts are still invisible, unless I am logged on to that account. What can you all see? I would like to know. No matter. Here I am again, reposting the two items that are still invisible. These have of course been posted to Facebook, as I always do, and they will soon be reposted to my Google-searched blog sites, so there is no use blocking this. May the Force be with us all!
“”Undergraduate students have lent support to Bauer through signing a petition to retain him as a lecturer. Senior Nivedita Kulkarni began the petition three years weeks ago at an Ashoka meeting.”
I first learned of the Ashoka petition during the interview with the Student Life reporter, whom I informed of two other petitions, one started by my Freshman Focus student Ben Rivera (whose place I was in line to take in the Student Worker Alliance hunger strike). This was signed by almost the entire WashU CoOp within twenty four hours of the news, before I received a call from Ben asking permission to petition on my behalf. i then gratefully granted it. Another petition was circulated by my Religious Studies and free university student Justin Strohm, who later combined all three petitions (c. 500 signatures) for presentation to Student Union, Student Life, and the administration. KWUR also did a benefit concert at the CoOp (proceeds went to the CoOp garden fund), and students painted the underpass in protest. Students also sold t-shirts, the proceeds supposed to go to the Vedanta Society or Jobs With Justice.
************************
““The University must restore the lecturer’s position in Religious Studies,” Bauer continued in his open letter, “and must also restore employment to other unjustly terminated lecturers. This is a matter of justice. If these reasonable requests are not met, I will stay here as I have promised to do, working for the community in whatever way I can.””
Please see my comments on Student Life’s “Open Letter to Professor Jeff Smith,” whose relevance will become obvious. When we compared notes, we made the connection, and saw the pattern. When I announced on my website (shortly before this article was published) that I would not seek employment elsewhere but would stay here, in solidarity, until our common issues are resolved, I had no idea how this would be received. Instead of being heckled, I was congratulated by random people when I went to campus that day. I overheard a couple of administrators: “He may be helping somebody else, but he sure isn’t helping himself.” Exactly.