Committee A of AAUP had authorized an investigation into the case of a long-time tenure track faculty member at Nicholls State whose contract was not renewed. A draft report was  submitted to the principal parties, requesting their comment by August 22.  The final report is available at http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/protect/academicfreedom/investrep/2008/Nicholls.htm.

 

The report concludes that "The administration of Nicholls State University, in dismissing Ms. Maureen Watson from the faculty after twelve years of continuous full-time service that it consistently evaluated as meritorious, denied her the protections of academic due process that accrue with continuous appointment as enunciated in the joint 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure and derivative Association-supported policy documents. The administration declined to state cause for the action, or indeed state any reason that would account for it, and it did not afford her any opportunity for a hearing before an elected body of faculty peers or before any other Nicholls person or group."

 

The report goes on to say, "No plausible reason for the administration’s dismissal of Ms. Watson can be ascertained other than its displeasure with her having assigned a large percentage of failing grades to her students in college algebra. Dismissing her for that reason, assuming the reason remains unrebutted, violated her academic freedom. Her insistence on grading in accordance with her best professional judgment of a student’s academic performance warranted not dismissal but commendation."