2008 Woodie Awards
Two Decades of Solitude
Can Yeshiva Get Away from AAUP Censure?
Elyasaf Schwartz
Issue date: 12/27/04 Section: News
- Page 1 of 4 next >
Yeshiva prides itself on being on many prestigious lists of honor. Perhaps most impressive of all is its consistent ranking on US News and World Report's listing of America's 50 best universities. But for the past 22 years, Yeshiva has been prominent on another list that is not at all flattering and has brought embarrassment to the university and its faculty. Since 1982, Yeshiva University has been under censure by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), because of inappropriate conduct relating to academic affairs and treatment of university faculty. Censure is a visible sign of failure by an institution to follow widely accepted norms, which the AAUP uses "to identify egregious violations of its standards."
The AAUP is a national organization dedicated to the advancement of sound academic principles and standards in higher education. Most major colleges and universities advocate an academic culture that revolves around academic freedom, honorable tenure practices and standards to protect academic freedom, and a system of shared governance, where the faculty is involved in the decision-making process of the institution. AAUP standards are based on this culture. The AAUP's bi-monthly magazine, The Academe, centers on issues in higher education, and its 45,000 members can be found on 500 different campuses comprised of 39 different state chapters. Of its myriad membership, 49 university administrations are currently under censure. Yeshiva is the only top-tier institution currently on the list.
The AAUP saga began in 1982, when Yeshiva administrators terminated the tenure of three professors on financial grounds. Though the AAUP permits tenure termination when institutional finances necessitate, its board did not view Yeshiva as an institution that fell under those terms. Upon further review of the terminations, the AAUP concluded that there was inadequate faculty participation, as suggested by its governing principles, prior to the decision. Additionally, the administration declined to justify its actions before a faculty hearing body. This troika of missteps landed Yeshiva on the AAUP's censure list.
The AAUP is a national organization dedicated to the advancement of sound academic principles and standards in higher education. Most major colleges and universities advocate an academic culture that revolves around academic freedom, honorable tenure practices and standards to protect academic freedom, and a system of shared governance, where the faculty is involved in the decision-making process of the institution. AAUP standards are based on this culture. The AAUP's bi-monthly magazine, The Academe, centers on issues in higher education, and its 45,000 members can be found on 500 different campuses comprised of 39 different state chapters. Of its myriad membership, 49 university administrations are currently under censure. Yeshiva is the only top-tier institution currently on the list.
The AAUP saga began in 1982, when Yeshiva administrators terminated the tenure of three professors on financial grounds. Though the AAUP permits tenure termination when institutional finances necessitate, its board did not view Yeshiva as an institution that fell under those terms. Upon further review of the terminations, the AAUP concluded that there was inadequate faculty participation, as suggested by its governing principles, prior to the decision. Additionally, the administration declined to justify its actions before a faculty hearing body. This troika of missteps landed Yeshiva on the AAUP's censure list.