Professor denied tenure due to transphobia

[Queercommie Girl]

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-595066?ref=feeds%2Flatest

Rachel's own blog:

http://rachel-s-friends.blogspot.com/2011/04/southeastern-oklahoma-state-university.html

Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/notes/meg-cotter-lynch/fight-discrimination-and-help-rachel-tudor/10150216339786240

"My friend and colleague, Rachel Tudor, has been denied tenure at our university and informed that her employment will be terminated effective May 31, 2011. Evidence suggests that this denial and dismissal are due to discrimination against her for being transgender. In a mess that has gone on for nearly two years, the administration at our university has repeatedly and egregiously violated established policies and procedures."

[Queercommie Girl]

Statement of Facts

Dr. Rachel Tudor has been employed as an assistant professor of English, humanities, and languages for the past seven years at Southeastern Oklahoma State University (“SOSU”). She currently serves on the Faculty Senate, Faculty Personnel Policies Committee, and enjoys consistent enrollment (and in many instances re-enrollment) in the courses which she offers. Dr. Tudor has published at least 10 academic articles and is well regarded by her students and colleagues.

Dr. Tudor is a transgendered female who formally transitioned in 2007. After transitioning, Dr. Tudor was instructed by SOSU’s human resource department to only use a single-stall handicap bathroom on a different floor than where her office is located. She presumes the direction came from Dr. Douglas McMillan, the vice president of academic affairs, who reportedly had also inquired whether Dr. Tudor could be terminated because her lifestyle “offends his Baptist beliefs.” Human resources denied his request to terminate her but did direct Dr. Tudor to use the separate bathroom facility.

Assistant professors at SOSU are given seven years in which to obtain tenure, with the initial probationary period ending after five years. It is not uncommon at SOSU for applicants to pursue more than one application before being granted tenure. Dr. Tudor knows of two examples of active professors at SOSU who pursued multiple applications before obtaining tenure including the current chair of the Faculty Senate’s Personnel Policy Committee.

Applications for tenure are considered and voted on by a faculty committee. When Dr. Tudor applied for tenure in 2009 she was recommended by the Tenure Review Committee by a vote of 4-1, subsequently her department chair also recommended her for tenure and promotion. However, the dean and the vice president of academic affairs disregarded the committee’s recommendation and denied tenure, but refused to provide any explanation for the denial. The dean regularly refers to Dr. Tudor by the incorrect pronoun (i.e. “him”) although the dean is well aware that Dr. Tudor is female. Dr. Tudor filed an appeal with the Faculty Appellate Committee claiming that the dean’s and Dr. McMillan’s office did not provide her due process in explaining why tenure was denied. The Faculty Appellate Committee found in favor of Dr. Tudor, and directed the administration to provide Dr. Tudor with the reason(s) for its denial of tenure. SOSU’s administration determined that the appellate committee’s ruling was merely a recommendation and was not required to comply.

Dr. Tudor planned to re-apply for tenure in the 2010. However, before the application period began she received a memo from Dr. Doug McMillan stating that she would not be permitted to apply for tenure, alleging that Dr. Tudor’s application would “inflame the relationship between the administration and the faculty.” However, the timing of the memo immediately after SOSU was informed that Dr. Tudor had filed a discrimination complaint with the US Dept of Education suggests retaliation was the true cause of the administration’s action. Dr. Tudor is not aware of any other case in which an otherwise eligible professor has been forbidden to reapply for tenure. Dr. Tudor filed another grievance with the Faculty Appellate Committee, which again found in her favor. The decision was presented to the president’s designee, Mr. Ross Walkup. The president’s designee did not concur with the Faculty Appellate Committee’s decision, and Dr. Tudor appealed to the president of the university, Dr. Larry Minks. At the time of the filing of Dr. Tudor’s grievance the policy of SOSU provided that the Faculty Appellate Committee’s recommendation be given to the president’s designee who would in turn relay the recommendation directly to the president. However, the president’s designee, Ross Walkup, an employee in the university’s business office, refused to affirm the recommendation of the Faculty Appellate Committee. The administration amended the grievance policies to permit the president’s designee to issue his own separate recommendation to the president. Meanwhile, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution, without a single opposing vote, calling on the president to allow Dr. Tudor to apply for tenure. Eventually, the president issued a letter to Dr. Tudor denying her appeal citing, inter alia, a supposed lack of precedence for professors reapplying for tenure after denial (a fact readily regarded as untrue).

Dr. Tudor has exhausted her remedies at the university level. There is no other appellate process or avenue to pursue her grievance. Complaints are pending with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission.

Dr. Tudor’s contract with SOSU, and therefore her employment, is scheduled to expire on May 31, 2011.

[Invader Zim]

If the case is as it is being reported in those links then it is a truly shocking and egregious misuse of position and authority.

Thank you for bringing it up.

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

:crying::crying::crying::cursing::cursing::cursing ::cursing:

[Johnny Kerosene]

The students should start a petition to have the dean fired.

[altnet]

Absolutely reprehensible that this type of blatant discrimination continues to thrive in modern society. It is truly disgusting to see religiosity contributing to this gross violation of supposed equality.

[El Chuncho]

Truly vile! :cursing:

[tachosomoza]

Fucking pathetic. Next, they're going to try to introduce segregation policies for trans people. It burns my ass when I hear of stuff like this going down at what are supposed to be the "temples of acceptance and higher learning". But, it's not surprising coming out of the Bible Belt.

[El Chuncho]

Transsexuals get it especially bad in society, I am sick of seeing jokes about transsexuals in films and on TV. IT IS NOT FUNNY!

[altnet]

How can the human species ever expect to achieve progress when ridiculous actions of this kind persist. In addition to merely persisting in current consciousness, they continue to permeate the minds of viewers of mass media like you mentioned above. Ugh.

http://i.imgur.com/LDiC3.jpg

[El Chuncho]

Face-palm indeed. Sadly I think that many humans have completely given up on progression... or maybe I am just cynical and bitter tonight. :bored:

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Hey! Love your graphic! The SPÖ arrows!

In passing: anyone who thinks this kind of thing isn't common in Academe, whether it involves discrimination against gays, or straights, or whites, or blacks, or men or women or right-wingers or lefties or whatever, hasn't been around too many faculty meetings. Disgusting, I know; but more the rule than the exception.

Incidentally, the professor is not merely filing an appeal because she was denied tenure (which is an internal issue), but she's filing a legal case for violation of federal law (Title IX), claiming that administration has retaliated against her for filing a complaint of gender-based discrimination. Even if she were to win that case here chances of being reinstated would be close to nil; at least it gives her some clout to negotiate a settlement.

[tachosomoza]

Yep, those arrows have adorned many of my high school notebooks and have marked out many a swastika around my childhood town.

[Johnny Kerosene]

How can the human species ever expect to achieve progress when ridiculous actions of this kind persist.

The kind of people who do shit like that dean don't want society to progress.

[tachosomoza]

The kind of people who do shit like that dean don't want society to progress.

They're called reactionaries. They like their little place in the status quo, and will use any methods at their disposal to keep it.

[Tim Finnegan]

...Dr. Douglas McMillan, the vice president of academic affairs, who reportedly had also inquired whether Dr. Tudor could be terminated because her lifestyle “offends his Baptist beliefs.”
It's funny how fond the Right becomes of the rhetoric of "bleeding heart liberals" when it can be appropriated to serve the needs of straight, cis, white, Christian men. Fucking wankers.