On Thursday, January 19, in response to national news coverage of a GEO press conference at which Jennifer Dibbern described her termination from the Materials Science and Engineering program because of her union involvement, the University of Michigan Provost and Dean of Engineering sent out email messages and a press statements in which they have called into question Jennifer’s academic record.
Here, we address one-by-one the points made in this email:
“It is important to understand that this is an academic matter.”
- Jennifer went from winning awards and recognition from faculty in the College of Engineering and the Department of Materials Science to being fired just a few weeks later. Note that there are three awards.
- Jennifer’s termination violated the department’s timelines and procedures for separating graduate students from the department—a policy that was intended to cover academic under performance, but that was not applied here.
- The claim that Jennifer’s being kicked out of the department is “academic” is another way of saying “don’t look too hard at this situation; we don’t want you thinking about what you’ll find.”
“While we are precluded by Federal law from publicly discussing a student’s
academic record, we believe that certain of the factual claims being made
are unfounded, including the allegation that the student was terminated
from a GSRA (Graduate Student Research Assistant) appointment.”
- If it hadn’t been for her advisor’s turn against her—which was related both in time and in content to Jennifer’s involvement in the GSRA campaign–Jennifer would be a GSRA this semester.
- In fact, in this program and with this record of achievement, the renewal of Jennifer’s appointment was so routine that when Jennifer’s former advisor decided against it, she had to take initiative to avert the routine process of renewal. Earlier renewals had been processed as routine administrative matters.
- Note that UM doesn’t dispute that Jennifer was cut off from her GSRA position, or from the department—and that they don’t claim that the way those things happened was in conformity with the department’s policy.
“In addition, I am not aware of an academic grievance being filed in
this matter.”
- Jennifer attempted to follow the process to which UM is referring, and which is described here. She reached out to her department chair, Professor Peter Green, and to the Rackham Ombudsperson, Ms. Darlene Ray-Johnson. Ms. Ray-Johnson—identified in the document linked above as responsible for implementation of the Rackham Academic Dispute Resolution policy—told Jennifer over the phone “this is something I can’t help you with.”
- When her efforts to engage Ms. Ray-Johnson failed, Jennifer also attempted to meet with Dean Elizabeth Wagner.
- Rather than meet with Jennifer as requested, Dean Elizabeth Wagner convened a meeting that included MSE Department Chair Professor Peter Green, MSE Graduate Program Coordinator Renee Hilgendorf, and Student Advocacy Manager Angie Farrehi on December 16th to inform Jennifer that she’d be kicked out of the department.
- There is no grievance filed because there is no one other than these individuals with whom to file it.
“Let me underscore that the University does not condone threats or
intimidation of, or retaliation against, graduate students for union
activity or for any other reason.”
- While the actions of Jennifer’s advisor were egregious, even “innocuous” faculty comments like “I won’t write letters of recommendation for anyone who signs a union card” can have a very intimidating impact.
- While not everyone who has been threatened in this way is ready to step forward, we’ve told UM that this is happening—to no avail.
We disagree with the characterization of Jennifer’s case as one of “academic judgment”. We agree that genuine academic determinations should be within the purview of the University and aren’t a subject for bargaining—but we don’t agree that “academic judgment” can be used as a pretext for breaking the law, which protects employees from retaliation for union activity.
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