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DePaul students and faculty are up in arms, holding protests and sit-ins over alleged gender discrimination in the university's tenure system, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Along with gender discrimination, some supporters suspect anti-gay feelings in the case of Melissa Bradshaw, a professor of women's and gender studies who did not receive tenure. She founded a minor in Lesbian/Gay/Bi/Transgender/Queer Studies Program, a "unique" addition to a Catholic school, the report noted.
The university considered 33 professors for tenure - the equivalent of a guaranteed job for life in higher education. Out of the seven professors turned down for tenure, five were women; 16 out of 18 male professors at DePaul received the honor. However, DePaul says it doesn't "condone gender discrimination" and that all professors are considered under the same standards, the report said.
On Friday afternoon, each woman received an email from DePaul President Dennis Holtschneider denying their appeal to have the decision reversed. Two of the women contacted by the Tribune indicated they planned on taking DePaul to court, the report said. One of the professors said she would not fight the university's decision.
According to the report, the remaining professors call for action highlights problems in the university's system. A faculty task force found flaws in the way professors are evaluated, "leaving the door open for possible discrimination" said Bradshaw supporters.
Professors are evaluated by members of their departments who are familiar with their work, but the ultimate decision lies in the hands of a small tenure review board. Unlike other universities however, this board does not defer to the wisdom of the professor's colleagues.
Each of the women denied received glowing recommendations that were seemingly overlooked when it came time to make a decision, the report said. When the professors appealed the decision separately, two of the appeals boards pointed out the system's flaws as a reason to reverse the tenure denial. But the president upheld the tenure board's decision.
[Tribune]
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First Finkelstein, now this. I am so ashamed of my alma mater.
Don't be ashamed just yet.
We who are on the outside do not know if these women really deserved tenure or not.
I'm a "double demon" with my BA and first MA coming from DePaul.
Trust me, this is perfectly in line with the University's practice of marginalizing women and members of the GLBTQ staff. The games they played with any gay rights group who wanted to organize on campus were ridiculous. I was on the staff of the newspaper and flat out heard members of the administration gay-bashing and lamenting the "queering" of DePaul and the surrounding community. Like Boystown crept out of the darkness and jumped out at them?
If I wasn't getting a full ride for my MA I'd have walked. But it's like that joke from annie hall, sure the food is terrible, and the portions are so small too!
This would never happen at the University of New Mexico. Everyone's a Lobo, Woof Woof Woof!
The discrepancy of men vs women to get tenure is not statistically significant. There very well could be some discrimination going on here but the numbers in this post don't give any proof. If you assume that all of the candidates have equal chance of getting tenure and you fix the total number of rejections to 7, you would have 5 or more females not given tenure about 14% of the time.
Professors are evaluated by members of their departments who are familiar with their work, but the ultimate decision lies in the hands of a small tenure review board. Unlike other universities however, this board does not defer to the wisdom of the professor's colleagues.
I know this is how it was reported in the Trib, but this part is misleading. What DePaul does is standard practice. Rank and tenure committees are in no way bound by the recommendations of chairs, colleagues, or even deans. They're independent for a reason. The idea that deference is their default posture seems plainly wrong to me.
Also, I'm no legal expert, but it seems to me you need to prove actual discrimination in a suit like this, not a "door open to possible discrimination." If they have evidence demonstrating such, more power to them.