Ohio Journalism School Struggles With Tenure Fight
Updated on 02/04/10: A previous version of this article featured a quotation that was incorrectly attributed by Ohio University’s student newspaper.
It's getting ugly in Athens.
Ohio University's Scripps College of Communication officials defended their decision in front of a packed house on Friday to deny a popular journalism professor tenure, the Ohio University student newspaper, the Post, reports. The three-hour tenure appeal was heated, with a standing-room-only crowd of students and faculty attending the hearing. The disagreements eventually led to a shouting match. Bill Reader, who started teaching at Ohio in 2002, was the first Ohio journalism professor in 14 years to have tenure rejected.
Reader alleges professional jealousy and personal disagreements led to his rejection. But the administrators behind the rejection say Reader was a noncollegial bully and incapable of working with others, according to the Post. The argument has consumed the journalism school, which is one of the top schools in the nation.
“This is not right,” student Alex Levin tells the Post. “It’s going to be a travesty for the journalism school. This is a failure to future journalism students.”
The support from students and faculty was a stark contrast to the picture painted by school officials.
"Three of my female faculty members were afraid," College of Communication Director Tom Hodson said. "Three of my faculty felt threatened by this man."
After the fireworks and drama from the hearing, an ad hoc faculty senate tenure committee has two weeks to write a formal recommendation letter to award or deny Reader tenure, the report says. Then Ohio University President Roderick McDavis has 30 days to make a final decision.
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Reader Comments
Inaccurate Reporting
One thing to note is that this article misrepresents is the situation that took place at the hearing in which Hodson interrupted Professor Dashiell during her closing statement with finger pointing and a raised voice.
The Athens Post describes the so-called "shouting-match" in their Feb. 1st, 2010 paper:
"Her [Dashiell] speech provoked an outburst from Hodson - whose frustration finally boiled over from pen snapping and fist clenching to vocal interruption.
" 'We're not here for the history!' Hodson interrupted. 'We're here to discuss the history...'"
If this issue hinges on the collegiality of Professor Reader, than I believe it is important to present an accurate representation of his actions. Professor Reader NEVER raised his voice during this hearing.
And furthermore, I have never heard him raise his voice over anything. As opinionated and animated as he can be, he is by far one of the gentlest me I have had the pleasure of knowing. He is also the greatest teacher I have ever had.
Let's try and keep the record straight.
What's going on?
We have all read that three female faculty members have been said to be afraid of Professor Reader. Though these faculty members are anonymous. Anonymous, like in Reader's ex-wife being one of these woman scared to death of this wonderful educator. Was not aware that Reader's ex-wife was a tenured faculty member within the same University. Makes one say, "HUM!" Why was all of this information brushed under the rug? Do you smell a rat, well we do.
Wasted Dollars/What's Missing?
What seems to be getting lost via the diversionary tactics of these few faculty and the administration is the Prof. Reader's exemplary work throughout his career and his sterling record at OU.
The unsupported, highly dubious--and perhaps malicious--accusations of the couple/few detractors are vivid and seem to have been crafted largely, if not solely, to distract onlookers from the WORK Prof. Reader has done. One would think that, if there were any substance, then there would be SOME evidence, but there isn't. The timing of the accusations--which came AFTER a positive tenure vote from the school--makes them even more suspicious, especially considering the evaluations of the accusers. Out of common decency, I won't post them--this is not about them, in the end--but it is all public record. The short story is that their evaluations, on average, demostrate poor performance, and there is plenty of EVIDENCE to back up that assertion. They have even blamed their students for their poor evaluations in the past. Look it up for yourself.
Conversely, Prof. Reader's work is consistently meritorious. There's a story about that in The Post, today:
HTTP://www.thepost.ohiou.edu/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID;=1&articleID;=30475
Even this past year--under the duress of these baseless and defamatory accusations and what comes with them--Prof. Reader excelled, yet again. So much so that the peer review committee could not deny, as reiterated in the story, "'The committee congratulates you on a very productive year in all areas on which faculty are evaluated,' wrote Michael Sweeney, chairman of the Peer Review Committee, in his evaluation of Reader."
And so, lacking evidence against Prof. Reader, the dean and director entered into evidence this FaceBook page, which they said supports their interpretations of a "pattern of bullying behavior":
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2209332186
Perhaps they didn't notice that, in the description of the FB group, it is subtitled "(also known as the Official Professor Bill Reader Fan Club ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ )," nor did they read to the end of the page, where it says, "I can't get enough of this man!"
Maybe it's only selective perception, wherein the director and dean only see what fits their preconceptions, if one affords the benefit of the doubt. They may not deserve it, personally, but they are human beings, even if they're not treating Prof. Reader as such.
I've heard some students say that Hodson screams at others in class, bringing them to tears. But that's just third-party hearsay, just like the allegations against Reader. However, the characterization fits with Hodson's behavior at the hearing, wherein he lectured and yelled at the subcommittee, while the accusations against Reader do not fit with his RECORD OF EXCELLENCE in all areas.
Do we rely on hearsay, or do we believe the evidence?
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