Endorsement of AHA Statement
The SFHS has endorsed the AHA’s May 2024 statement on 2024 Campus Protests. The statement “deplores recent decisions among college and university administrators to draw on local and state police forces to evict peaceful demonstrators,” pointing to historical events such as those at Kent State University & Jackson State University in 1970 and the “Orangeburg Massacre” of 1968. The AHA “urges everyone involved to learn from that history and turn away from the violent escalation we are now seeing on campuses” and for “administrators to recognize the fundamental value of peaceful protest on college and university campuses.” To date, 31 organizations have signed on to the statement.
Click here to read the statement.
In Defense of Tenure
On January 12, 2023, Manhattan College terminated twenty-three faculty members, many of whom hold tenure, including two historians. Among the historians is Dr. Jeff Horn, Co-President of the Society for French Historical Studies. In Jeff’s case, this termination comes after more than two decades of committed service to the institution and its students. Many of you know Jeff as a highly accomplished, widely published historian of the French Revolution. His presidency of the SFHS is just one example of his generosity to the historical profession and to the field of French history, more specifically. This dismissal is, in academic terms, summary. The faculty members will be unemployed as of June 15, 2024. The college cites financial duress. However, without much more transparency about the process for deciding which departments and faculty members were targeted to be let go, the extreme solution of breaking tenure contracts cannot be justified. In fact, the nature of the trust between faculty member and institution on the matter of tenure is such that it should never be broken without the institution making every effort to retain the faculty member through the crisis or, in the worst case, support them in finding new employment or in re-professionalization and in a timely transition that respects the academic job calendar. These are ethical considerations. There are legal guidelines spelled out in the Manhattan College faculty handbook, especially around this short timeframe and severance package, which the college has disregarded. Manhattan College is attempting to censor the affected faculty from speaking “disparagingly” about the college in exchange for a minimal severance package. We wish to express our unwavering support for Jeff and our colleagues at Manhattan College.
Many of you have asked how you might offer material support for our colleagues as they negotiate with Manhattan College to reestablish their contract or establish fair severance. Jeff has shared this link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-defend-tenure-at-manhattan-college