Associate Provost Diane Alperin sent a letter dated July 7 to Associate Secretary for the American Association of University Professors, Dr. Anita Levy. The letter is in response to Levy’s June 25 letter to FAU President Frank Brogan regarding the layoffs of five tenured faculty members in the College of Engineering and the Administration’s failure to acknowledge Faculty Senate resolutions condemning the action.

In the letter Alperin essentially said “Thanks but no thanks” to the AAUP’s offer of assistance in rectifying the situation. FAU is the only university in the Florida State University System that terminated solely tenured faculty. Alperin repeats the assertions concerning budgetary problems trumpeted by Brogan and Provost John Pritchett throughout the spring semester that have been used as a pretext for a broad reorganization of the university. Last month the FAU Board of Trustees approved a $543 million operating budget for 2009-10. The following are some excerpts of the letter with commentary.

“The administration understands and respects the University Faculty Senate’s opposition to any layoff that regrettably affects its members.”
In fact, the FAU Administration violated common faculty governance procedures by failing to adequately consult with Engineering faculty or the Faculty Senate. Thereafter, the UFS’s resolutions were summarily dismissed by Board of Trustees Chairwoman Nancy Blosser when presented to the BOT on June 10 by Senate President Tim Lenz, saving Brogan the trouble of formally vetoing the resolutions, which in this case would have been proper procedure.

“Florida Atlantic University reaffirms its commitment to respecting tenure, academic freedom and due process as it applies to all faculty.”
In fact, the tenured faculty who were terminated received absolutely no due process, which is one reason for UFF-FAU’s grievances on their behalf.

“Thanks to the dedication and hard work of the faculty and administration of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the College’s recent restructuring created new efficiencies that limited faculty layoffs to only five, and no academic program or degree eliminations will be necessary. The students will be unharmed.”
In fact, several of the classes laid off faculty members were assigned to teach in Fall 2009 now lack qualified instructors. Further, word has it that FAU administrators have apparently made offers to some of the laid off faculty for one year appointments to teach courses which in some cases they are not actually qualified to teach.