Faculty questions leader's defense of firing

Faculty at Southern Utah University want to know a lot more about why their Faculty Senate president, David Rees, used the media to defend the firing of former SUU professor Stephen C. Roberds.

"It's quite a few people who are upset," said Jessica Tvordi, assistant professor of English and a junior faculty senator.

The Faculty Senate is scheduled to meet Thursday. The senate met last Friday and Roberds' case came up, but questions linger.

Tvordi has received numerous e-mails about the opinion piece by Rees that appeared Dec. 20 in the Deseret Morning News.

In that column, Rees accuses Roberds of "inexcusable" behavior while elaborating on reasons why Roberds was denied tenure and ultimately fired. Rees provided in his column what he called evidence of Roberds "not being collegial."

Tvordi said senators did not give their consent for Rees to air his opinion in the media while representing the senate.

Rees was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

In the meantime, Roberds' firing has raised several issues for remaining faculty.

"What it has created is an atmosphere of uncertainty about the tenure process," said Henry Brimmer, assistant professor of graphic design.

The uncertainty stems from questions among faculty about how they should act inside and outside of the classroom and exactly what constitutes not being "collegial," which Roberds said was the reason he was fired. Without a clear understanding of how the concept of "collegial" fits into the tenure process, some fear what happened to Roberds could happen to them, according to one faculty member.

The role of a "dominant culture" and the influence of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on campus is becoming a common source of concern among some non-LDS faculty.

Brimmer and Tvordi, who are not LDS, along with former SUU professors Dennis Waskul and Dan Pence say they have either experienced or heard about examples of the LDS Church's influence on faculty behavior. Waskul and Pence say their own experience with the so-called dominant culture is the main reason they left SUU for jobs outside Utah.