Rider University Chapter of the AAUP
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    • Important Information on Campus Consolidation
    • Chinese Company Out As Buyer Of Westminster Choir College
    • Kaiwen is Gone
    • Kaiwen Education Reply to a June 2019 Inquiry from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange
    • Update on Kaiwen Education's Financial Status
    • Arbitration Over Layoffs at WCC
    • Kaiwen Education 2018 Annual Report
    • By Federal Reserve Standards Kaiwen Education is a Highly Leveraged and Risky Business
    • Two Updates on Kaiwen's Finances
    • Due Diligence and Kaiwen Education
    • Chronology of a Crisis
    • WCC Reset
    • New Jersey Attorney General’s Office Delivers Major Setback to Rider University’s Plan to Sell Westminster Choir College
    • Westminster Foundation Press Release on AG Investigation
    • Purchase Agreement
    • Faculty Shocked to Learn Secret Agreement Would Allow Buyer to Close Westminster Choir College
    • Universities as the Guardians of Assets
    • Press Release Kaiwen Finances
    • 2019 Report on Kaiwen
    • DejaVuDellOmo
    • Kaiwen Announcement 1/11/19
    • AAUP Goes to the NJ Assembly
    • Sign the Petition to Save WCC
    • WWCAC Letter November 8 2018
    • Kaiwen Education: Report on Company Performance Through the Third Quarter 2018
    • New Information Reveals Chinese Corporation Plans to Take $20 Million Westminster Choir College Endowment despite Prohibitions Imposed by State/Federal Law
    • More Bad News about Kaiwen
    • Claims v. Reality
    • AAUP Challenges Legitimacy of Newly announced Non-Profit Said To Be Created To Run Westminster Choir College
    • Label Your Stuff!
    • WCC Alumni Council Questions and Answers
    • Statement on Proposed Sale of Westminster Choir College Faculty Union Vows to Continue Oppose ill-conceived Sale of Iconic Music School
    • June 7 Letter to Board
    • A Failure of Due Diligence
    • Bond 2017
    • Chronology of the WCC Crisis
    • Kaiwen Education Technology
    • Pending Legal Actions >
      • Legal Complaints against Rider University over Sale of WCC
    • The Legacy of Westminster Choir College
    • Updates and Information Sent to Faculty from AAUP Leadership >
      • A Letter to WCC Faculty regarding President Dell'Omo's Letter
      • Open Letter to Board of Trustees
      • Letter to Faculty
      • How a For-profit Company Might Ruin Westminster
      • A Message from AAUP regarding the potential layoff of Westminster Faculty
      • ​Update on Westminster
    • Press Releases >
      • Outrage Over Rider University's Plan To Sell Legendary Choir College To Chinese For-Profit Company With No Experience in Higher Education
      • DellOmo Lays Off Entire WCC Faculty
    • WCC Crisis in the News >
      • The Coalition to Save Westminster Choir College Initiates Spin-Off Discussions With Rider University Administration
    • Letters of Support for WCC >
      • Eric Whitacre Praises Westminster
      • Statement of support from NJ Higher Ed Leadership Council.
      • Support for Westminster Choir College
    • Teach In at WCC
    • WCC Teach In Audio >
      • Remarks by Laura Brooks Rice
      • Have American Universities Lost Their Way? by Joel Phillips
    • Governance Standards in Institutional Mergers and Acquisitions
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    • STRIKE FAQ
    • AAUP's Response to Admin's "Critical Need for Change"
    • AAUP v. Admin Proposals
    • CREDO >
      • Admin's Prioritization Report
      • WCC Students Petition DellOmo
      • Dr. Sanjay G. Reddy Speaks to the Chapter
      • A Bargaining Unit Member's Guide to Credo Part 1
      • A Bargaining Unit Member's Guide to Credo Part 2
      • Rider AAUP Executive Committee Recommendations Concerning Credo Consulting
      • Administration Attempts to Bully AAUP Executive Committee
      • Save Rider Rally
From AAUP Leadership: More on the New Hiring Procedures

Dear Colleagues,
 
As you may know the AAUP has raised concerns about a new set of "Hiring Guidelines" that have been promulgated by the administration. Unfortunately, our concerns have been mis-characterized by some as AAUP opposition to increasing faculty diversity. Nothing could be further from the truth. The AAUP firmly believes in the value of diversity, of students, faculty and ideas in education. We have a long history here at Rider of fighting for increased diversity including encouraging the faculty to foster the value of multiculturalism and diversity in teaching and in scholarship through their own work and through their involvement in the hiring and mentoring process. We have made numerous proposals at the negotiating table to support the hiring and retention of historically underrepresented groups. We worked to create an Affirmative Action committee, then repeatedly begged to have the committee convened. Same story with the Minority Affairs Committee. Regardless of president, every year faculty were recruited to serve, only to hear that the committee had never been convened. The AAUP also outlined many other proactive steps the administration could take to increase diversity, such as supporting personal contacts with prospective hires while they are still in graduate school and sending our faculty to conferences that specialize in the interests of diverse audiences, but very few of our recommendations were taken up by the administration.

What we have objected to in the present moment was the unilateral introduction of new procedures for hiring with no reference to or agreement by the AAUP. These new procedures aim to reduce the faculty role in hiring and elevate the administrative role in the process under the guise of improving diversity.

A careful reading of the new "guide for hiring procedures" which was created without any reference to the AAUP makes clear that the real goal is to diminish the role of the faculty in hiring. To give just one example the new guide includes the following statement,

“Although faculty actively recruit their colleagues, screen candidate pools, interview candidates, and make recommendations to the Dean, it is the Provost, in consultation with the Dean, who determines who should be hired.”

The Agreement does not give the Provost the authority to determine who to hire. It (the Agreement) instead gives the Dean and ultimately the Provost authority to reject departmental candidates but only for compelling reasons:

“The dean shall offer the position to candidates based on the department's order of preference unless the dean believes that the candidate(s) preferred by the members of the department do(es) not meet the established and stated qualifications for the position or the dean determines that there are other compelling reasons (provided such reasons do not violate academic freedom as defined by the AAUP policy statement and the common law) for selecting the next candidate from the list. In such a case the dean shall meet with the department within five (5) days of his/her meeting with the departmental chairperson to attempt to resolve the disagreement. If no resolution of the disagreement occurs at this meeting, the department shall have five (5) days to appeal the dean's decision to the Provost. If the department does not appeal the dean's decision, the dean shall offer the position to the next candidate on the department's list. If the department appeals to the Provost, he/she shall meet with the department and the dean within five (5) days to attempt to resolve the disagreement. If the Provost rejects the department's appeal he/she will provide in writing within five (5) days his/her reason, which shall not be arbitrary or capricious, for rejecting the department's appeal. The dean shall then offer the position to the next candidate on the department's list, unless the dean believes that this candidate is unacceptable for one of the reasons stated above, in which case this process shall be repeated with regard to this candidate. If after going through this process there are no acceptable candidates, the University shall declare the search suspended and shall reopen the search.”

There is a world of difference between being able to reject a candidate for "compelling reasons which shall not be arbitrary or capricious" and "determining" who should be hired. Particularly when the Agreement states,

"If any interviewed candidates are deemed unacceptable to the department, that shall also be noted on the list, and under no circumstances shall the University offer a position to a candidate who has been found unacceptable by the department."

The AAUP as always stands ready to discuss with the administration changes to the Agreement that would increase the diversity of the faculty while maintaining the centrality of faculty in the hiring process and we have already agreed to meet with representatives of the Provost to see if that can be accomplished.

Jeff Halpern
Contract Administrator, AAUP

​11/29/18

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  • Home
  • About
    • Mission Statement
    • Chapter Meeting Minutes
    • Presentations from AAUP Meetings
    • Meeting Dates 21-22
    • Points of Contact
    • AAUP Officers
    • AAUP Awards >
      • Bertram Mott Award
      • Henry J. Frank Award
    • P&T Committee Members
    • APC Committee Members
    • UAPC Committees
    • Training for College/School Academic Policy Committee Members
    • CIM Training Video
    • Membership
    • Assumption of Risk and Waiver Form for Employees that is required for travel funds
  • Contract
  • Grievances
    • Grievance Process
    • Amendments to Grievance Process, Updated April 2016
    • Grievance Procedure Explained
  • Constitution
    • I - Name
    • II - Purpose
    • III - Membership
    • IV - Dues
    • V - Chapter Officers
    • VI - Committees
    • VII - Election of Officers
    • VIII - Removal of Officers
    • IX - Disciplining of Members
    • X - Meetings
    • XI - Contract Ratification
    • XII - Finance
    • XIII - Amendments
  • Saving WCC
    • Decision on Standing Lawsuit
    • AAUP Response to Provost Fredeen's October 2nd Email
    • Important Information on Campus Consolidation
    • Chinese Company Out As Buyer Of Westminster Choir College
    • Kaiwen is Gone
    • Kaiwen Education Reply to a June 2019 Inquiry from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange
    • Update on Kaiwen Education's Financial Status
    • Arbitration Over Layoffs at WCC
    • Kaiwen Education 2018 Annual Report
    • By Federal Reserve Standards Kaiwen Education is a Highly Leveraged and Risky Business
    • Two Updates on Kaiwen's Finances
    • Due Diligence and Kaiwen Education
    • Chronology of a Crisis
    • WCC Reset
    • New Jersey Attorney General’s Office Delivers Major Setback to Rider University’s Plan to Sell Westminster Choir College
    • Westminster Foundation Press Release on AG Investigation
    • Purchase Agreement
    • Faculty Shocked to Learn Secret Agreement Would Allow Buyer to Close Westminster Choir College
    • Universities as the Guardians of Assets
    • Press Release Kaiwen Finances
    • 2019 Report on Kaiwen
    • DejaVuDellOmo
    • Kaiwen Announcement 1/11/19
    • AAUP Goes to the NJ Assembly
    • Sign the Petition to Save WCC
    • WWCAC Letter November 8 2018
    • Kaiwen Education: Report on Company Performance Through the Third Quarter 2018
    • New Information Reveals Chinese Corporation Plans to Take $20 Million Westminster Choir College Endowment despite Prohibitions Imposed by State/Federal Law
    • More Bad News about Kaiwen
    • Claims v. Reality
    • AAUP Challenges Legitimacy of Newly announced Non-Profit Said To Be Created To Run Westminster Choir College
    • Label Your Stuff!
    • WCC Alumni Council Questions and Answers
    • Statement on Proposed Sale of Westminster Choir College Faculty Union Vows to Continue Oppose ill-conceived Sale of Iconic Music School
    • June 7 Letter to Board
    • A Failure of Due Diligence
    • Bond 2017
    • Chronology of the WCC Crisis
    • Kaiwen Education Technology
    • Pending Legal Actions >
      • Legal Complaints against Rider University over Sale of WCC
    • The Legacy of Westminster Choir College
    • Updates and Information Sent to Faculty from AAUP Leadership >
      • A Letter to WCC Faculty regarding President Dell'Omo's Letter
      • Open Letter to Board of Trustees
      • Letter to Faculty
      • How a For-profit Company Might Ruin Westminster
      • A Message from AAUP regarding the potential layoff of Westminster Faculty
      • ​Update on Westminster
    • Press Releases >
      • Outrage Over Rider University's Plan To Sell Legendary Choir College To Chinese For-Profit Company With No Experience in Higher Education
      • DellOmo Lays Off Entire WCC Faculty
    • WCC Crisis in the News >
      • The Coalition to Save Westminster Choir College Initiates Spin-Off Discussions With Rider University Administration
    • Letters of Support for WCC >
      • Eric Whitacre Praises Westminster
      • Statement of support from NJ Higher Ed Leadership Council.
      • Support for Westminster Choir College
    • Teach In at WCC
    • WCC Teach In Audio >
      • Remarks by Laura Brooks Rice
      • Have American Universities Lost Their Way? by Joel Phillips
    • Governance Standards in Institutional Mergers and Acquisitions
  • 2022 Negotiations
    • Negotiation Updates
    • STRIKE FAQ
    • AAUP's Response to Admin's "Critical Need for Change"
    • AAUP v. Admin Proposals
    • CREDO >
      • Admin's Prioritization Report
      • WCC Students Petition DellOmo
      • Dr. Sanjay G. Reddy Speaks to the Chapter
      • A Bargaining Unit Member's Guide to Credo Part 1
      • A Bargaining Unit Member's Guide to Credo Part 2
      • Rider AAUP Executive Committee Recommendations Concerning Credo Consulting
      • Administration Attempts to Bully AAUP Executive Committee
      • Save Rider Rally