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October 13, 2021

VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

President Marcia White

College of Saint Rose
432 Western Avenue
Albany, New York 12203

Dear President White:

I had hoped that we would soon be working together to remove the College of Saint Rose from the
Association’s list of censured administrations. Censure was imposed by the AAUP’s Annual
Meeting in June 2016 based on the investigating committee’s finding that the college’s previous
administration had effected program closures and faculty layoffs in a manner that violated AAUP-
recommended principles and standards on academic freedom and tenure (the committee’s report is
enclosed). Regrettably, the occasion of my writing today is not to address censure removal but to
convey the Association’s concern regarding complaints that your administration has recently closed
programs and terminated faculty appointments in a manner again at odds with our supported
principles and standards.

Professor Robert Hansbrough, Professor Yvonne Chavez Hansbrough, Professor Bruce Roter, and
Professor Robert Wise, all tenured members of the college’s Department of Music, have sought the
AAUP’s advice and assistance as a result of having received notice, by letter of December 8, 2020,
of the termination of their appointments effective December 29, 2021. The letter, which is signed by
Dr. Margaret T. McLane, then interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, and by the
director of human resources, describes the terminations as “a necessary response to extraordinary
financial challenges” resulting from “low enrollment in certain programs.” The letter states that “the
College . . . rigorously followed” the faculty manual and that, “after considering and acting upon a
range of alternatives, the Board of Trustees . . . regrettably voted to eliminate a number of”
programs and “therefore some tenured and tenure-track faculty positions.” We understand that the
number of affected faculty members exceeded thirty.

The interest of our Association in these cases arises from its commitment to basic tenets of
academic freedom, tenure, and due process as articulated in the enclosed AAUP-AAC&U 1940
Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, a document endorsed by more than 250
scholarly societies and higher-education organizations. Procedural standards derived from the 1940
Statement are set forth in the AAUP’s Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic
Freedom and Tenure (also enclosed).

The 1940 Statement specifies that, “[a]fter the expiration of a probationary period, teachers or
investigators should have permanent or continuous tenure, and their service should be terminated
only for adequate cause, except in the case of retirement for age, or under extraordinary
circumstances because of financial exigencies.”
President Marcia White
October 13, 2021
Page 2

Regulation 4c, “Financial Exigency,” of the Recommended Institutional Regulations details the
procedural standards that should govern program closures and appointment terminations when an
institution is dealing with a financial emergency. Despite the faculty manual’s incorporation of a
financial exigency policy the provisions of which are highly indebted to Regulation 4c, your
administration did not elect to follow that policy but instead chose to employ a policy on
“anticipated program reductions.” The AAUP does not regard the mere anticipation of program
reductions as a legitimate basis for terminating faculty appointments. As a result, we would
consider the termination of appointments on such a basis as departing significantly from the
principles and standards of academic freedom, tenure, and due process enshrined in the 1940
Statement.

The information in our possession concerning these cases has come to us exclusively from the
complainants, and we appreciate that you may have additional information that might allay our
concerns. We would therefore welcome your comments. Assuming the basic accuracy of what we
have recounted above, we would urge rescission of the notices issued to the above-named faculty
members and their similarly situated colleagues.

When the AAUP places an institution on its list of censured administrations, it has done all it can to
register its condemnation. When an institution seeks to remove the censure, however, the
Association’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure (the body that recommends
removal) will expect its administration to address not only the cases that led to the censure but also
those that arose subsequently and remain unresolved.

Sincerely,

Gregory F. Scholtz, Director

Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance

Enclosures attached.

Cc: Mr. Jeffrey D. Stone, Chair, Board of Trustees

Dr. Margaret T. McLane, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Professor Angela Gordon, Chair, Faculty Review Committee
Professor Kathleen Crowley, President, College of Saint Rose AAUP Chapter
Professor Mary Rose Kubal, President, New York AAUP Conference
Professor Irwin Yellowitz, Chair, New York AAUP Conference Committee A on Academic
Freedom and Tenure
Professor Robert Hansbrough
Professor Yvonne Chavez Hansbrough
Professor Bruce Roter
Professor Robert Wise