The LSU Faculty Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to censure three top administrators at the university over their controversial dismissal of a tenured professor accused of creating a hostile environment in the classroom with obscene language and sexually explicit jokes, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
The Faculty Senate voted 39-5 in favor of censuring LSU President F. King Alexander, Provost Stuart Bell and Damon Andrew, dean of the College of Human Sciences and Education, for the June dismissal of Teresa Buchanan, a tenured associate professor of curriculum and instruction.
The LSU Faculty Senate’s resolution notes that a faculty committee chosen to hear Buchanan’s case had unanimously recommended that she be censured, not fired. Instead of pursuing censure, Alexander called for Buchanan’s termination, which the LSU Board of Supervisors supported at its June 19 meeting.
The censure resolution accuses the administrators of violating academic principles related to tenure, faculty governance and due process for firing Buchanan for misconduct after a faculty panel concluded that her removal was unwarranted and her case had been mishandled.
The university’s administration responded to Tuesday’s vote by issuing a statement that says the Faculty Senate members “simply don’t have all the facts in this case.”
“Unfortunately, due to potential litigation, we are not at liberty to share all of the facts,” the statement reads. The statement goes on to say that the university stands by the decision made by its top officials “and what it represents—that our students have the right to learn in an environment free of sexual harassment, bullying and verbal abuse.”
The Daily Reveille reports the LSU Student Senate released a resolution Monday in support of Alexander and thanking him for “passionate leadership of the university, always striving to do what is best in the interest of the student body.”
Last month LSU released what it said will be its final public statement on the firing of Buchanan, defending the controversial move. See the complete LSU Faculty Senate resolution, and read the complete statement from LSU.
The Faculty Senate had originally taken up the censure on Sept. 2, but deferred the matter at that time. Its resolution urges the administrators to rescind Buchanan’s dismissal.
Read the full story by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
