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CUNY Grants
Tenure to
College Historian in Collegiality Dispute
By SCOTT SMALLWOOD
When Robert David Johnson was denied promotion
at
fought back, threatening to sue and gaining support from students, other scholars, and the news media. On Monday
night, the professor of
his battle when the trustees of the
The decision ends a dispute that began last spring,
when
application for promotion to full professor, despite his considerable research success and stellar teaching evaluations. He later appealed, but the college's president, Christoph M. Kimmich, upheld the decision.
The professor continued to press his case, both publicly and through his lawyer. After negotiations with Mr. Johnson's lawyer in recent weeks, Matthew Goldstein, chancellor of the CUNY system, established a special faculty committee, comprised of three CUNY history professors from
outside
Friday, they unanimously recommended that Mr. Johnson be granted tenure. Mr. Goldstein, who has sought to raise standards at CUNY, also interviewed Mr. Johnson and read one of his books.
"Although collegiality is a factor that may be considered in connection with promotion and tenure decisions, I did not find compelling and objective evidence of a major problem in that regard sufficient to trump a truly outstanding record of scholarship, teaching, and other aspects of service," the chancellor told the trustees.
Mr. Goldstein said that the case did not set any new precedent and that allowing a "select faculty committee" to review the decision was not unusual because that is one option allowed under the faculty contract.
"I'm grateful to the chancellor," Mr. Johnson said in an interview. "This case could have dragged out, but he acted decisively to move the talks forward."
Mr. Johnson called his case a "textbook example" of the problems that can develop when collegiality is used to evaluate professors. "I hope this will be a lesson to college administrators to respect academic freedom and make tenure decisions based on scholarship and teaching," he said.
The case earned national attention in the fall when 21 scholars of
letter in which they asked him to "reverse this disastrous and unjust decision." Denying promotion to Mr. Johnson, they said, reflected a "culture of mediocrity" at CUNY.
Mr. Johnson, who has published two books with Harvard
University Press, came to
1999 after four years at
his students take multiple courses from him and give him rave reviews. This fall, when the tenure dispute became public, students held rallies, signed petitions, and marched to the president's office.
Mr. Johnson
contended that
history department's chairman, carried out a "vendetta" against him because of their disagreements during a search last year for a new professor of European history. Mr. Johnson said that some professors on the committee during the disputed search were determined to hire a woman, while he pushed for candidates with the best academic credentials.
Mr. Gallagher has declined to comment publicly
about the case, and a
spokeswoman has said that college officials cannot discuss details about a personnel matter.
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