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    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

Simon Newman, the President of Mount Saint Mary’s University in Maryland, is a disgrace

Brian Leiter

He's already made headlines for telling his faculty to shoot their struggling students in the head, like "bunnies to be drowned", and now he's purporting to fire a tenured philosophy professor, Thane Naberhause, for lack of "loyalty."  (IHE has more.)  What deranged academic administrator thinks faculty have a contractual duty of "loyalty"?  Naturally, a guy with an MBA from Stanford with no experience in academic administration at all.  He is apparently confusing tenured faculty with the victims employed by companies he took over in pursuit of profit.  Prof. Naberhause should retain counsel and should establish a fund for his legal fees for donations from those as appalled as I am about this brazen assault on the contractual rights of tenured faculty.  The APA should be writing to the President, as should the AAUP (I trust both will).  It's going to take a court of law to rein this lunatic in.  Comments are open for more information, links, ideas, etc. 

(Thanks to Mark Murphy and John Schwenkler for pointers.)

UPDATE:   Via Prof. Schwenkler in the comments, a statement of protest (well-written, and with links to useful background information).  Please sign, with title and institutional affiliation, so that at least the Board of Trustees at this institution can get a sense for the depth and breadth of concern about this.

ANOTHER:  Here's a revealing article from the business press about Mr. Newman, when he took the job for which he so clearly isn't qualified.

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9 responses to “Simon Newman, the President of Mount Saint Mary’s University in Maryland, is a disgrace”

  1. Lacking Hands

    He's listing a Cambridge MA on his official University biog page?

    That is genuinely all I need to know about this guy.

    Reply
  2. John Schwenkler

    Thank you, Brian, for sharing this. We should also note that Pres. Newman used to work for Bain Capital.

    I have prepared a statement of protest to be signed by members of the academic community. I need to wait little longer before sharing it. But I will post a link here as soon as it is ready.

    Reply
  3. Mhill

    I'm glad the community is rallying around the tenured professor and against Newman's troubling principles. I'll happily sign Schwenkler's protest. It's always disappointing when someone like this impacts the academic community in such a way.

    Reply
  4. Th'expense of spirit

    "An avid sportsman, Mr. Newman and his wife, Michelle, have two children: Chantel (six) and Sienna (three)".

    Adjectival subordinate clauses can be tricky for the sub-literate. Mr. Newman may be a 'sportsman', but no English speaker uses that singular noun in a collective sense; it's thus difficult to see how it could equally describe his wife.

    While Mr. Newman and his wife doubtless enjoy their sport, I'd hazzard the cavil that the production of two children, felicitous though that be, hardly qualifies the sportsman Mr. Newman to bear the epithet 'avid'.

    On the assumption that the President approved it, the solecism evident in the single quoted sentence betrays such a slippery hold on the English language that Mr. Newman could objectively be classified as "at risk". "Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run."

    Reply
  5. Ross McKinney

    Strikes me as time to write the college recruiting handbooks so they can quote the university's philosophical position that students, like drowning bunnies, should be shot with a Glock. Really deep intellectual leadership, promising for a career. Potential enrollees should know –

    Reply
  6. John Schwenkler

    Here is a link to fill out a statement of protest from members of the academic community: http://tinyurl.com/msmprotestform

    And here is the statement with its signatories: http://tinyurl.com/msmaryprotest

    Reply
  7. Enzo Rossi

    Would it be possible for the AAUP to issue something like of a no-confidence declaration against this Newman fellow? He has to go, or else even if he fails to sack our colleagues this time the chilling effect will be considerable, and the precedent dangerous in terms of what managers can get away with trying.

    Reply
  8. Bob Lust

    The BOT at MSM selected Mr. Newman from among all those who applied. Either there is another agenda in play for what the Board believes is necessary at MSM, or there was a woeful lack of diligence in the search process. Either way, this is really a challenge for the BOTs, and given the staunch support Mr. Newman has received, they (so far, at least) continue to believe that he is the leader MSMs needs. So, there must be more to this than simply Mr. Newman's inexperience and disregard for academic traditions and processes.

    I have been struck in reading materials about the story by the extent to which Mr. Newman's Catholic faith and traditions were considered in characterizing him as a suitable candidate to lead MSM, and yet not recognize his (business?) belief that "Catholic branding" didn't have nearly the cache it might have previously.

    It appears form reports that MSM is willing to defend dismissal "for cause" (violations of established policies, etc). Business folks tend not to worry too much about process, as long as it doesn't change outcomes, and as long as there is "stomach for the fight", and funds to pay the lawyers; both of which seem to be present in this case. I suspect that there is a belief by MSM BOT and Mr. Newman that Professor Naberhouse does not have the relative means with which to fight, even if he did have the will to. (apologies in advance to Th'expense of spirit for the countless transgression of language in this comment…)

    Reply
  9. Patricia Thornton

    In my view, this is a clear violation of academic freedom as defined by the 1997 UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Higher Education Personnel, VI. "Rights and Freedoms of Academic Personnel," No. 27, which reads: "The maintaining of the above international standards should be upheld in the interest of higher education internationally and within the country. To do so, the principle of academic freedom should be scrupulously observed. Higher-education teaching personnel are entitled to the maintaining of academic freedom, that is to say, the right, without constriction by prescribed doctrine, to freedom of teaching and discussion, freedom in carrying out research and disseminating and publishing the results thereof, **freedom to express freely their opinion about the institution or system in which they work**, freedom from institutional censorship and freedom to participate in professional or representative academic bodies. All higher-education teaching personnel should have the right to fulfil their functions without discrimination of any kind and without fear of repression by the state or any other source. Higher-education teaching personnel can effectively do justice to this principle if the environment in which they operate is conducive, which requires a democratic atmosphere; hence the challenge for all of developing a democratic society."
    Where is the AAUP representative at Mount Saint Mary's?

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