The Michigan Daily-Friday, September 26, 1980 Page 9
CASE REVEALS INTRICACIES OF PROMOTION PROCESS
Former prof questions tenure denia
(Continued from Page 1)
Studies) of minor importance to the
Univesity and supports the Arabs in the
Arab-Israeli conflict.
IN ADDITION, a letter, signed by 47
political science graduate students,
was sent to the executive committee
to protest Henry's tenure denial.
The letter alleyed that the commit-
tee's members may have "allowed fac-
tors extraneous to Henry's
qualifications to influence their
decision."
Five of six executive committee
members reached by phone vehemen-
tly denied that politics entered into the
deliberations over Henry or any other
faculty member who received a tenure
review last year.
"Budgetary issues and the degree of
specialization of a faculty member's
field are not part of the tenure review
process," explained Associate Dean of
Academic Appointments Robert
Holbrook. "Tenure decisions are based
on-scholarly record, teaching, and ser-
vice."
WORD OF HENRY'S tenure denial
was received with dismay and disap-
proval from the political science depar-
tment and scholars worldwide, Elder-
sfeld said.
"The whole thing is a mystery to
me," he said. "When "the political
science department rejected Samnoff in
1978, the committee encouraged us to
give him a re-review. We told the
college we could not review Samoff's
case objectively, and passed the
decision along to it. The College then
refused to overturn our original
decision. Now this time around we give
Henry a unanimous recommendation
for promotion,and they turn us down. I
don't understand it."
"But let's face it," said history Prof.
Mitchell. "The University is under
financial seige and it has to make
priorities around where to make cuts. If
you're in a periphereral area, like
Clement (Henry), you may be
sacrificed. Faculty members in area
studies could be squeezed out in the
coming year, but my colleagues and I
don't think the University should
operate that way."
"SOME ZIONISTS who were students
in Henry's class (Arab-Israeli conflict)
may have sent letters to the executive
committee saying he didn't teach his
class objectively," said Schorger, who
directed the Center for Near-Eastern
and North African Studies for 16 years.
"Some committee members may
have similar feelings, although the
;political science department and Henry
himself insist he was evenhanded in the
classroom..
According to Executive Committee
member Edna Coffin and- then-
Executive Committee member Albert
Feuerwerker, Henry was denied tenure
because his most recent book, Images
Reagan
rejects
debate
'proposal
(continued from Page 1)
Reagan, in Portland, Ore., said that
"I cannot in good faith agree to the
proposal for a series of presidential
debates what would preclude John An-
derson."
Reagan's camp earlier had taken the
position that a one-on-one meeting with
Carter would be agreed to only if the
president also promised to take Ander-
son on in a two-way debate.
The league's proposal appeared to be
an attempt to compromise between the
"round-robin" series favored by
Reagan and the president's insistence
that he and Reagan go at it alone before
involving Anderson.
Reagan said he was directing his
debate negotiator, James Baker, to in-
form the league in Washington that he
would not accept the latest proposal.
fours earlier, Carter had jumped at the
invitation.
It was a proposal likely to appeal to
Carter, but a top Reagan adviser said
the GOP nominee was unlikely to ac-
cept. An Anderson aide expressed
disappointment.
of Development; Egyptian Engineers
in Search of Industry, which is being
published by MIT Press, did not meet
the standards of the committee and did
not measure up to Henry's previous
publications. His other publications in-
clude two other solo books, three books
written in conjunction with other area
scholars, and more than 25 articles and
papers that have been published by
political science journals and presented
at national conferences.
"He also had not published much
over the last few years," Coffin added.
dean's office. Miller had to exclude
himself from the deliberations concer-
ning Henry because of a possible con-
flict of interest.
Each sub-committee is responsible
for submitting a positive or negative
recommendation for promotion for
each faculty member it reviews. The
six-member executive committee then
votes whether to grant or deny tenure.
"To the best of my recollection," said
Eldersfeld, "The department was told
Henry received an unfavorable review
from the social sciences sub-
'If my most recent book and other pub-
lications were the basis of my tenure
denial, then the executive committee and
the social sciences promotion sub-com-
mittee were not qualified to review my
said 20 assistant professors were can-
didates for tenure last year, 13 were
approved, and seven were not ap-
proved. Of the 27 recommended by
departments for promotion trom
associate professor to full professor,
the committee accepted 17 and rejected
10.
HENRY CAME TO the University in
1973 and was given a three-year con-
tract as non-tenured associate
professor. He was given his first tenure
review two years later by the political
science department and was rejected
with the knowledge that the department
wanted to "wait and judge his Egyptian
material." He was then given an ad-
ditional three-year contract. In 1978 he
was given a full tenure review like any
University professor who enters the
sixth year of his contract.
According to Schorger, the political
science department complained
vigorously about the initial tenure
denial in 1978. Department chairman
Sam Barnes voiced the complaints to
then-LSA Dean Billy Frye.
SAM ELDERSFELD, member of the
political science tenure review commit-
tee, said "the department was en-
couraged to resubmit Henry next time
around and we were given every in-
dication that he had a strong possibility
of passing."
Mitchell added that he and his
colleagues thought Henry would be a
"shoe-in" once the committee got word
his book had been accepted for
publication by MIT Press.
"BUT WHEN YOU come up for re-
review," explained David Zweig, a
Teaching Assistant in the Political
Science dpeartment, "someone on the
committee has to stick their neck out to
save you. I don't think anyone stuck out
their neck for Clement (Henry)."
"CLEMENT WAS NOT one to rub the
right people the right way," noted one
faculty member who asked to remain
unidentified. "He didn't make the right
connections."
Executive Committee members
reached said "connections have
nothing to do with the tenure process."
ACCORDING TO Schorger, Henry
did not get a full tenure review the
second time (February, 1979).
"I found out from (then LSA Dean)
Billy Frye his second review was not a
total re-evaluation of Henry's material.
The review was to determine if any new
material had emerged to reverse last
year's decision," explained Schorger,
"so it wasn't a question of whether he
was qualified for the position, but
should last year's decision be overtur-
ned in light of some new material. 1
heard there was some hesitancy among
the new members of the committee to
admit the previous year's decision was
a mistake, so they abstained.
"The people who sit on the Executive-
Committee are carefully screened by'-
the administration," he continued.:.
"They're not the types to make waves
with the administration."
One Executive Committee member,
who asked to remain unidentified, said
the three new members of the commit-
tee evaluated Henry as a fresh case,
while the three other members who had
reviewed his case the previous year,
were looking for additional material.
"I don't think anybody would have
hesitated to overturn last year's
decision if they saw it fit to do so," said
the committee member. "I think the
final vote was split, with one absten-
tion."
material.'
-Clement Henry
"THAT'S BULL," Mitchell said.
"Henry's publishing record is already
superior to most of the tenured faculty
in the College (LSA). "I've only
published one book on my own and I
was tenured. Henry's produced three
and his most recent is being published
by a very reputable publisher (MIT
Press)."
"If my most recent book and other
publications were the basis of my
tenure denial," said Henry, who has
spent 10 years teaching and conducting
research in the Middle East with
several grants from major foundations,
"then the Executive Committee and the
social sciences promotion sub-
committee were not qualified to review
my material."
Henry, 43, also said he has published
often, except in the years 1972-1973,
when he was teaching and researching
in Egypt and 1978-1979, when he was
teaching at the University and writing
his forthcoming book.
IN LSA, ONCE a faculty member has
been recommended for promotion by
his department, his publication
material is reviewed by a humanities,
natural sciences, or social sciences
promotion sub-committee comprised of
six faculty members. For example,
since Henry was recommended for
promotion by the political science
department, his material was reviewed
by six professors from the social scien-
ces: Psychology Prof. Elizibeth
Douvan, History Prof. Albert Feuer-
werker, Anthropology Prof. Kent Flan-
nery, Economics Prof. Peter Steiner,
Sociology Prof. Charles Tilly, and
Political Science Prof. Warren Miller,
according to a document from the LSA
committee. It's incomprehensible to
me that the college turned him down on
the basis of his publishing record. His
publishing record is internationally
reknowned and for his age bracket, he's
at the top of his group."
Schorger and Mitchell both said the
social sciences sub-committee and the
executive committee members were
not qualified enough to arrive at a
negative decision by judging the book.
"There may have been a person out-
side the executive committee who was
qualified enough to review Henry's
book and able to turn the evidence
against him," said Schorger.
"I was surprised Henry didn't get
tenure, I supported him all the way,"
said sub-committee, member Miller.
The other sub-committee members
refused to comment on the
deliberations.
Holbrook said the committees are
comprised of very capable scholars
who "spend enormous amounts of time
reviewing each faculty member's
material." But he added that different
members of the committee have
varying degrees of expertise and
some committee members are in
position to make more qualified
judgments on material than others."
HE ADDED THE executive commit-
tee cannot "rubber stamp each depar-
tment's tenure recommendations,
otherwise, the committee's function is
wasted.
"Our tenure rate has been roughly 65
per cent over the last several years,"
he continued. "Many well-qualified
faculty are denied promotion each
year."
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