First let me say I speak for myself. I’m not speaking for Ryan, and I’m definitely not speaking for John. That said, there is something that is happening on our campus that I think we need to be taking action on.

Professor Pamela Owens, a former sponsor of our group and a sponsor of numerous other organizations on campus, including nearly all the liberal ones, has had her job put in jeopardy. Dr. Owens, you may remember, is the one who helped students organize to stop the budget cuts to A&S two years ago. She was also at the Social Security protest and ended up being quoted by the Baltimore Sun mentioning UNO Democrats by name.

If her job was in jeopardy for an easily definable reason that would be one thing, but it is not. If she was a single case that would be one thing, but again she is not.

Other liberal faculty, most specifically in Black Studies and the School of Social Work, have lost their jobs in the last few years, and this year both Dr. Owens and Professor Caroline Simpson (in the art department) have been blindsided. They are both Women’s Studies faculty and great teachers. Prof. Simpson, I happen to know, has even been wearing a College Dem button on her purse since September.

Some students of Dr. Owens met with some students of Dr. Simpson and wrote out this “press release” which I received through email. They are organizing themselves to make sure that their voice is heard. An old-style 60’s Sit-In in the Vice Chancellors office is already planned for Monday. Here’s the Press Release:

Release:

As of Monday, Feb. 28, two strong, out-spoken, feminist scholars in their fifth year of teaching at UNO have been informed that their respective deans are not recommending them for reappointment for the 2006-2007 academic year. Dr. Pamela Jean Owens and Dr. M. Caroline Simpson, who were in line to apply for and be granted tenure during the upcoming academic year (2005-2006), have been told by their deans that they will never be able to get tenure at UNO and thus should take next year to find another job. Drs. Simpson and Owens are each in the midst of cutting-edge research programs and have each received grants from UNO’s University Committee on Research.

University faculty are given the opportunity to apply for continuous appointment, aka “tenure,” in their sixth year of teaching. Faculty in the fifth year, as are Drs. Owens and Simpson, normally are reappointed for a seventh “buffer” year in which they would be able to seek another job, should they not receive tenure during the sixth year. Faculty build a “paper trail” of evaluations each year, to ensure they have every opportunity to develop a “profile” commensurate with tenure. In her 2003 review, Dr. Owens’ department told her that her profile was already then of a quality commensurate with tenure. This year, with more research
published than last year, her research is inexplicably called unacceptable and unable to be improved.

Dean Shelton Hendricks in Arts and Sciences and Interim Dean Robert Welck in the College of Fine Arts went against the advice of Dr. Owens’ department, Philosophy and Religion, and Dr. Simpson’s department, Art-Art History, and against the advice of their own college advisory committees which have reviewed these faculty members each year, to recommend against reappointment.

The recommendations of the deans now go to John E. Christiansen, Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs at UNO. His decision is final, unless challenged by a grievance procedure through the AAUP (the UNO faculty union) or an Affirmative Action or other legal proceeding.

Professors Owens and Simpson both teach courses which count for the “cultural diversity” credits required in all UNO degrees. Dr. Owens teaches courses in both Women’s Studies and Native American Studies; Dr. Simpson teaches courses for Women’s Studies. Both came to UNO in fall 2000, as part of the largest class of women and minority tenure-track faculty entering in a single year in the school’s history.

Cultural diversity courses, and the faculty who teach them, have become a target of ultra conservative academic activists across the country, including the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which was founded by Lynn Chaney. Colorado Governor Bill Owens (no relation to Pamela Owens) is active in the ACTA’s Governors Project. Its goal includes electing ultra conservative regents and trustees to college and university boards and ending the granting of tenure to faculty. The ACTA is known best for its proposing post-911 to monitor faculty nationwide for ideological (liberal/left) bias. It is not currently known whether Nebraska’s Governor or regents are part of the ACTA or whether any of them attended the training event for trustees hosted by Gov. Owens in Colorado.

Persons concerned about the loss of feminist scholars at UNO should express their views to the appropriate administrators, as quickly as possible. It is helpful to send a copy of all letters to the faculty affected, as a sign of support, and to the UNO AAUP.

For more information, contact
CHRISTINE S MOUNTAIN cmountain@mail.unomaha.edu

Christine is the person I recieved this from, but there are so many people organizing that I’m not even sure if she is the point person for coordinating right now. But I’m sure she has more info than I do.

I’m going to include where to send the letters in the comments section because this is already really really text heavy.