2008 Woodie Awards
STAFF EDITORIALS: Communication Breakdown; Uncivil Disobedience
Issue date: 3/29/05 Section: Editorials/Op-Ed
Communication Breakdown
The lack of proper communication between senior administrators and faculty constitutes a problem which needs addressing. In the most recent case, Professor James Vrettos, after more then seven years of teaching at Yeshiva College, was unexpectedly fired by the administration without warning or explanation. Alongside his dismissal, Dr. David Ben-Menachem, a full-time lecturer in the Hebrew Language department was also given the boot without warning. Surely we understand that firing of adjuncts is common; but as both have taught at Yeshiva for a number of years, why should they not be given the decency of notification and explanation?
Open-channels between the senior administration and students have often been a problem at Yeshiva. Recently however, the administration opened itself up a bit more in the form of "express yourself" boxes, brown-bag lunches with President Joel, and perhaps most significantly, the forming of a student group that meets monthly with Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Morton Lowengrub on a variety of academic-related concerns. These steps have been duly noted by the student body, and are much appreciated.
Yet it is still imperative that the administration maintain an open line of communication with their faculty, directly informing the appropriate officials of important decisions affecting their departments. Furthermore, faculty heads must be consulted about hirings and firings in their departments before decisions are made. This consultation will not only allow the faculty, who are most familiar with their departments, to advise senior administration as to the best course of action, but also to allow the administration to share its thought process with the department and cluster heads. Doing so will produce a more furtive administrative environment, and grant both groups greater credibility in their decision making.
Additionally, steps should be taken to grant more rights and securities to adjunct professors, who are often viewed as dispensable by administration officials. They, like full-time faculty and tenured professors, should be given both notice of a pending dismissal and the ability to defend themselves to the administration. Adjuncts make up a substantial segment of the Yeshiva College faculty, yet lack certain significant, yet seemingly self-evident rights. In Dr. Ben-Menachem's case, he consistently taught at least four courses a semester. More strikingly, Prof. Vrettos has been half of the sociology department for seven years, and is teaching an honors course this semester. If these were unqualified adjuncts, they should never have taught here for that long. And if they were deserving of continuing on at Yeshiva, then they should be treated with the respect and dignity which faculty merit.
While the student body welcomes the administration's attempt to improve the academic standing here at Yeshiva, changes need to take shape in a proper and just fashion. The creation of the student group which meets with Dr. Lowengrub was a move in the right direction. Yet if department and cluster heads are not consulted about important decisions, and adjuncts are viewed as second class professors, then such steps are for naught. It is imperative that President Joel, Dr. Lowengrub, and other senior officials work together with the various faculty heads to insure that every department's needs are properly represented, and that adjunct faculty are given their due recognition.
Uncivil Disobedience
For 69 years, The Commentator has been the only source for Yeshiva news and the only consistent forum for campus dialogue. It would therefore be ironic, if not so sad, that students on both the Wilf and Beren campuses decided to throw out entire stacks of The Commentator's last issue. Though the past has brought free speech challenges, and even removal of newspapers, from some members of the administration, this time the stakes have been raised; it is frankly a disheartening turn of events for us to confront the draconian actions of our peers who have defected from the arena of free expression and joined the camp of radicalism.
Aside from the unlawfulness of the matter, trashing student publications closes off avenues of debate and legitimate intellectual discussion. Students offended by published material in The Commentator are entitled to their beliefs; but the proper mode of action would have been, as others do, to contact the editors. In a particularly memorable moment over the past few weeks, when a Commentator editor noted to a student at Stern College for Women how surprised he was to see that all the newspapers were gone (and assumingly being read), the student gleefully replied "that's because we threw them all out." While surely those involved were a "radical few," the fact that other students witnessing the debacle refused to respond unknowingly sanctions such irreverent behavior as normative. No degree of objectionable material can warrant such unilateral action by such self-appointed censors, who in their unconscionable actions are destroying the fabric of Yeshiva's student press. We trust that such reckless behavior will not occur here again.
The lack of proper communication between senior administrators and faculty constitutes a problem which needs addressing. In the most recent case, Professor James Vrettos, after more then seven years of teaching at Yeshiva College, was unexpectedly fired by the administration without warning or explanation. Alongside his dismissal, Dr. David Ben-Menachem, a full-time lecturer in the Hebrew Language department was also given the boot without warning. Surely we understand that firing of adjuncts is common; but as both have taught at Yeshiva for a number of years, why should they not be given the decency of notification and explanation?
Open-channels between the senior administration and students have often been a problem at Yeshiva. Recently however, the administration opened itself up a bit more in the form of "express yourself" boxes, brown-bag lunches with President Joel, and perhaps most significantly, the forming of a student group that meets monthly with Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Morton Lowengrub on a variety of academic-related concerns. These steps have been duly noted by the student body, and are much appreciated.
Yet it is still imperative that the administration maintain an open line of communication with their faculty, directly informing the appropriate officials of important decisions affecting their departments. Furthermore, faculty heads must be consulted about hirings and firings in their departments before decisions are made. This consultation will not only allow the faculty, who are most familiar with their departments, to advise senior administration as to the best course of action, but also to allow the administration to share its thought process with the department and cluster heads. Doing so will produce a more furtive administrative environment, and grant both groups greater credibility in their decision making.
Additionally, steps should be taken to grant more rights and securities to adjunct professors, who are often viewed as dispensable by administration officials. They, like full-time faculty and tenured professors, should be given both notice of a pending dismissal and the ability to defend themselves to the administration. Adjuncts make up a substantial segment of the Yeshiva College faculty, yet lack certain significant, yet seemingly self-evident rights. In Dr. Ben-Menachem's case, he consistently taught at least four courses a semester. More strikingly, Prof. Vrettos has been half of the sociology department for seven years, and is teaching an honors course this semester. If these were unqualified adjuncts, they should never have taught here for that long. And if they were deserving of continuing on at Yeshiva, then they should be treated with the respect and dignity which faculty merit.
While the student body welcomes the administration's attempt to improve the academic standing here at Yeshiva, changes need to take shape in a proper and just fashion. The creation of the student group which meets with Dr. Lowengrub was a move in the right direction. Yet if department and cluster heads are not consulted about important decisions, and adjuncts are viewed as second class professors, then such steps are for naught. It is imperative that President Joel, Dr. Lowengrub, and other senior officials work together with the various faculty heads to insure that every department's needs are properly represented, and that adjunct faculty are given their due recognition.
Uncivil Disobedience
For 69 years, The Commentator has been the only source for Yeshiva news and the only consistent forum for campus dialogue. It would therefore be ironic, if not so sad, that students on both the Wilf and Beren campuses decided to throw out entire stacks of The Commentator's last issue. Though the past has brought free speech challenges, and even removal of newspapers, from some members of the administration, this time the stakes have been raised; it is frankly a disheartening turn of events for us to confront the draconian actions of our peers who have defected from the arena of free expression and joined the camp of radicalism.
Aside from the unlawfulness of the matter, trashing student publications closes off avenues of debate and legitimate intellectual discussion. Students offended by published material in The Commentator are entitled to their beliefs; but the proper mode of action would have been, as others do, to contact the editors. In a particularly memorable moment over the past few weeks, when a Commentator editor noted to a student at Stern College for Women how surprised he was to see that all the newspapers were gone (and assumingly being read), the student gleefully replied "that's because we threw them all out." While surely those involved were a "radical few," the fact that other students witnessing the debacle refused to respond unknowingly sanctions such irreverent behavior as normative. No degree of objectionable material can warrant such unilateral action by such self-appointed censors, who in their unconscionable actions are destroying the fabric of Yeshiva's student press. We trust that such reckless behavior will not occur here again.