One Petition Organizer Explains Loss of Confidence in Kenny

By Michael Kelly

The following is an interview conducted by email with one of the professors who is working to mobilize other faculty members to sign the petition entitled “Concerned Faculty of Stony Brook.” The petition expresses a loss of confidence in the leadership of President Shirley Strum Kenny, and has been signed by more than 100 faculty members.

The professor requested anonymity in exchange for his/her candid thoughts about the petition, and his/her responses have been unedited. The professor has signed the petition.

1) How long have you been with the university?

Almost two decades. I’m a Full Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS).

2) What Pres. Kenny action caused you to formulate your petition? I know there has been a history of grievances listed in the petition, but what action was it that pushed you far enough to start the petition? Also, did you act alone in starting the petition or is there a group of people who started it?

I did not actually write the petition, but am part of the core group of concerned faculty who are helping to gather signatures and mobilize our colleagues against the crisis.

The frustration of the faculty with President Kenny’s administration of the university has been building up over many years. At first, many of us were simply annoyed at the growing gap between her exaggerated PR-hype portrayal of the university and the hard-pressed realities we face as teachers and researchers in CAS—the College of Arts and Sciences—which is the core academic unit at Stony Brook. Our working conditions as scholars and teachers have long been probably the most austere among the nation’s leading research universities. In recent years, however, we have been hit by a number of deeper problems—hiring freezes on faculty, cutbacks in all kinds of resources, a shortage of classroom space—that are leading to a serious deterioration in the general educational environment at Stony Brook. Many of us have begun to believe that President Kenny, who is very occupied promoting a variety of costly pet projects that are not central to our educational mission—for example, the Southampton campus, Stony Brook-Manhattan, cheer leading squads, artificial “brooks,” and an array of prestigious-sounding professional programs—is out of touch with genuine faculty and student needs. Most importantly, there has been a rapid, poorly-planned expansion of the student body which has effectively raised the CAS student-faculty ratio by nearly 50%. That means a 50% fall in the quality of student education. The library—the heart and soul of any serious research and learning university—is being starved of resources and can no longer even serve current teaching needs. Even Kenny’s showcase private fund raising successes—such as the Wang Center-are cultural and social in nature, having little or nothing to do with academic needs. Students sense there’s something wrong, for example, in the chronically overcrowded classrooms and cafeterias. Professors wonder and wonder about the priorities here yet faculty opinion goes unheeded.

Concretely, many of us were shocked last summer when still another hiring freeze began after the resignation of the last provost, Bob McGrath. The university faculty desperately needs to grow again. During this academic year, we have sadly watched a substantial group of our most talented and dedicated faculty flee Stony Brook for more stable and better run universities. They are sick of the unfulfilled promises. Many of us who remain are demoralized. What drives faculty to action now is that this “crisis”—repeated a month ago with an emergency announcement of a new CAS budget deficit that almost canceled a quarter of next falls’s classes—seems so artificial to us. The University overall is actually doing well in resources, but that funding is not being given to CAS or other academic activities. We suspect it is, instead, going into President Kenny’s non-educational projects, most of which are losing propositions from a financial perspective. For example, the Southhampton campus scheme is now costing about $10 million a year, and the projected CAS budget gap that is causing these problems is around $8 million. There is an arcane and secretive administrative politics surrounding such numbers, but the basic math here is still pretty disturbing.

3) What do you hope the petition to accomplish? To get Kenny to change her ways, to get her to step down, etc?

Good question. First, I think we need to publicize these issues so that an honest and public discussion can finally take place about Stony Brook’s challenges and future. We are already awakening good discussions in many departments. Second, we would like to see the CAS budget crisis quickly resolved by the infusion of resources our work deserves. CAS faculty are the teaching engine of the entire university. Our understanding is that President Kenny, with no oversight or balancing power, is withholding the needed funds. Third, it would serve the university well to begin an independent investigation of the financial management of the university, perhaps undertaken from Albany.

Personally--though I’m not talking here for the Committee--I would like to see Kenny step down. She has long alienated the faculty by her studied apathy of core educational concerns. She’s been here 13 years, yet promised never to outstay a decade. We need leadership that is concerned with the shrinking state of the real working university, not the imaginary always “fantastic” one she runs without professors and students in mind. Maybe we actually can become Long Island’s “Harvard” (a comparison administrators love), where recently a courageous faculty were able to remove, through heated debate, a damaging president.

4) Do you have any fears about signing the petition/having Kenny find out it was you who started the petition?

Personally, I am not afraid of signing; I have tenure and firmly believe in the integrity of our academic freedom. Indeed, it is our intellectual responsibility as faculty to speak out.

5) Did you find it difficult to get others to sign the petition? If so, what were the most common reasons for other professors’ trepidation?

The climate of fear among professors is palpable. For every person who has signed the “no confidence” petition, at least another has expressed fear of signing. They agree with its necessity and message, but President Kenny has earned a reputation for a dictatorial style of decision-making, and of personal vindictiveness against critics. Beyond reprisals, some faculty fear that she may take revenge on the already limited resources of their department or on their special programs that depend on her largesse. This is a sad statement about the current professional climate at Stony Brook. Yet, now, close to 100 distinguished faculty, from a wide variety of ranks and disciplines, have already signed. That’s nearly a quarter of CAS-affiliated faculty. Of course, we also strongly advised junior faculty—those who still lack the protection of tenure—to sign anonymously.

6) Does this protest stop with the petition? If not, what is your next move?

We hope to promote a constructive public debate of these issues, and of the larger university priorities, and to gain more transparency and democratic input into how this university is run. Great and mature universities, which Stony Brook can still become, truly listen to and involve the faculty voice. We will do whatever is needed, including bringing our case directly to the media and to concerned officials in Albany.