Students and faculty have come out to oppose the decision of the Olin Business School to terminate the contract of Tzachi Zach, assistant professor of accounting.

“I think it would be very difficult for anyone to say that we are better off as a school without Professor Zach here,” Mark Soczek, lecturer of accounting and the director of the center for experiential learning in the business school, said. “I would challenge anyone to make that statement.”

Despite being widely regarded as an exceptional teacher, Zach, in his sixth year at the University, was denied the chance to pursue a tenured position due to an apparent underproduction of research.

“I think collectively the school has made a mistake,” Soczek said. “This is sort of my call to the students that I basically agree with them.”

Zach said that his body of work warranted an extension of his contract and the chance to be considered for tenure in three years, regardless of his teaching record.

“When you look at the details, it drives me nuts,” Zach said.

While the business school’s policy on tenure stresses the equal consideration given to teaching, research and service to the University in tenure candidates, Zach said that the school’s main metric is a professor’s quantity and impact of publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Following an article in Student Life [April 14, 2008] that announced Zach’s departure, a group of four former business school students submitted an article in protest of the decision, and addressed the role of research in the tenure process.

“It is the Olin administration’s choice to ignore exceptional teaching and apply such a heavy weight to published research,” Kristin Haggerty, the lead author of the article and a 2006 graduate of the business school, wrote.

Emphasizing their opposition, the alumni created a Facebook group titled “Olin School of Business needs to rethink its priorities.” The group currently has 100 members and invites people to express their disapproval by writing to the chancellor.

“I thought he was the best teacher I had at Wash. U. by far, not even close,” sophomore Ryan Grandin said. “I think it’s tough to judge a person only on the numbers of papers they write. Professor Zach has had a significant impact on some students and is the reason why some kids are accounting majors.”

Zach Freedman, a junior accounting major, met Zach as a prospective student at the business school’s spotlight weekend.

“I think the business school is trying to get their name out there and trying to enhance their image among students,” Freedman said, “and Tzachi Zach is one of the biggest draws for people.”

Zach, who will begin working at Ohio State University in the fall, said that the amount of research he yielded, if judged today and not in January when the decision was made, would have resulted in an extension of his contract. Since the tenure decision, two of Zach’s articles have been published in top-tier accounting journals.

“It is not a case where one could say that Zach didn’t do anything, like the dean tried to portray,” Zach said, referring to comments made by Dean Mahendra Gupta in last Monday’s article that stated Zach did not produce enough research to have his contract extended.

“Was there an effort to make people aware of [my] contributions in other dimensions? No,” Zach said.

When asked to comment on Zach’s tenure situation for this article, Gupta wrote in an e-mail, “I have nothing further to add at this point.”

While Gupta made the final decision to release Zach, the process began with an evaluation of Zach’s work by the accounting department and a subsequent recommendation to the senior faculty, who ultimately would vote on his future at the school.

Zach, too, echoed the sentiments of the alumni in wanting to involve students in the process.

Saul Kopelowitz, a senior and former teaching assistant for Zach, thinks the business school’s decision sends a clear message to the students.

“The administration is blatantly saying that the students’ input is inferior to consideration of faculty research,” Kopelowitz said. “They’re saying the research mission is their priority over educating students.”

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