SUU professor's firing is similar to previous incident

The circumstances under which former Southern Utah University associate political science professor Stephen C. Roberds was recently fired bear an "astonishing similarity" to his departure from the University of North Alabama in 1998.

UNA history professor Tom Osborne last week e-mailed an SUU faculty member to say that before Roberds landed at SUU almost six years ago, faculty from the UNA department of history and political science recommended against rehiring Roberds. The UNA administration reportedly upheld that decision.

"He is very good at organizing support and convincing onlookers that he is being persecuted for his politics, which had nothing to do with our action," Osborne said of Roberds in his e-mail.

Headlines from the UNA student newspaper, Flor-Ala, around October 1997 read, "Tenure denial scandal in Political Science department" and "Impact of tenure denial hits home." Opinion pieces in Flor-Ala noted Roberds' "passion" as a teacher and said that students got the "shaft" by Roberds being fired.

Flor-Ala's then-education editor, Jennifer Wright, described Roberds as a teacher who frequently stood outside the school's library and was "always available and open to his students."

Supporters for the "outspoken" Roberds at UNA and colleagues from other departments at UNA "attacked" the department's motives for letting Roberds go. As at UNA, Roberds' firing at SUU also landed in the student newspaper.

At both schools, one major issue became whether the correct process was followed in getting rid of Roberds. The American Association of University Professors has been looking into whether proper procedures took place at SUU.

"(Roberds) has not been responsive yet to our request for pertinent documents," said Anita Levy, senior program officer with the AAUP's Department of Academic Freedom and Tenure.

The exact reasons as to why officials at either school fired Roberds, named by SUU students as the 2003-04 "Professor of the Year," may never be publicly known.

"There are laws and policies that protect the reputation of a person who has been terminated," said SUU political science department chairman Lamar Jordan.

The SUU Faculty Senate talked about Roberds' case Friday, but colleagues, who now feel a "chilling effect" between administration and faculty, and some SUU students still want to know more — another Senate meeting is set for Thursday. Roberds declined to comment for this story.