A.S. Government Resources

A Bill in Support of Dr. Pat Washington Remaining at SDSU

Sponsored by: Claudia Brown,
Jennifer Conrad and Scott Simpson

WHEREAS, The mission of the Associated Students of San Diego State University is to promote citizenship and social responsibility; to educate students about, and promote involvement in the governance of the university and the affairs of the local community; to represent student interests in governmental issues on city, state, and national levels; to provide a forum to advocate the free expression of the student point of view; and

WHEREAS, The mission of San Diego State University is to provide well-balanced, high quality education for undergraduate and graduate students and to contribute to knowledge and the solution of problems through excellence and distinction in teaching, research, and service; and

WHEREAS, San Diego State University, in its statement of mission and goals articulates its “hope to create a Faculty of Teacher-Scholars”; “A Faculty that meets the Needs of Departments, Schools, and Programs to Provide Quality Degree Programs”; “A Faculty that is Diverse”; “A Faculty that Provides International Perspectives”; “A Faculty with Community-Based Interests”; and “A Faculty That Provides Interdisciplinary Perspectives”; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Patricia A. Washington was hired in 1996 as an Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies, and is the first and only Black tenure-track faculty member hired in the 30-year history of the Women’s Studies Department at San Diego State University, representing one of 21 Black faculty out of a total of 831 tenured or tenure track faculty at the university; and

WHEREAS, Based on annual reappointment letters, Dr. Washington made satisfactory progress toward tenure and promotion during the first four years of her 6-year probationary period, but experienced a dramatic shift in the Women’s Studies department‘s evaluation of her continuing accomplishments after she complained of a racially hostile work environment in May 2000; and

WHEREAS, In May of 2001, the Women’s Studies Department radically altered the criteria it used to evaluate applicants for tenure and promotion, marking the second change to the department’s tenure criteria since Dr. Washington was hired; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Washington has objectively met and/or exceeded all University, College of Arts and Letters, and departmental criteria that she was given at the time of her appointment, as well as each successive set of new criteria subsequently put in place, including those imposed 6 months before she went up for tenure; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Washington was the only faculty member in the 30-year history of the Women’s Studies Department held to 3 separate and successively more stringent sets of requirements for tenure; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Washington’s bid for tenure was handled in a manner that denied her a full, fair, and impartial review, despite written assurances that the six-level tenure review process would provide a “fair and objective evaluation” of her tenure file and that members of the college personnel committee “are not advocates for their departments”; and

WHEREAS, Provost Nancy Marlin, in a letter dated May 15, 2002, acting in her capacity to make all decisions regarding tenure and promotion, communicated her denial of tenure and promotion of Dr. Washington from Assistant to Associate Professor, declaring 2002-2003 to be Dr. Washington’s terminal year; and

WHEREAS, The May 15, 2002 action represents the final campus-based step in the tenure and promotion process that began with the misrepresentation and devaluing of Dr. Washington’s record of scholarship, teaching, and service by the Women’s Studies Department Personnel Committee, the Department Chair, and by the Department representative to the College of Arts and Letters Personnel Committee, and was subsequently upheld by the Dean of the College, the University Promotions and Tenure Review Panel, and the Provost on behalf of the President; and

WHEREAS, The university espouses a commitment to diversity yet is firing one of the few African-American women tenure track professors and the only African American tenure track professor in the history of the Department of Women’s Studies; and

WHEREAS, The university is facing a fiscal crisis which may result in the a hiring freeze on new tenure track faculty who are essential to the retention and success of students, yet is firing one of the most well known and renowned professors in the area teaching, scholarship, and service; and

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, The AS Council endorses and supports the tenure appeal of Pat Washington on the grounds of her stellar record of teaching, scholarship, and service and on the basis that her bid for tenure was treated in an unfair and unjust manner that is inconsistent with the mission and goals of the university as it relates to the recruitment and retention of students and faculty; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, The AS Council demands that the university administration extend the employment contract of Dr. Patricia Washington for a period of two years to ensure that she has a fair chance to appeal her tenure denial through all contractual and legal processes available to her; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, The AS Council directs its president to coordinate a campaign in support of Dr. Washington’s tenure appeal.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be forwarded to the University Provost, University President, the Chancellor and Trustees of the California State University (CSU), as well as the Lieutenant Governor of the State of California and the Speaker of the California State Assembly, both of whom are ex-officio members of the CSU Board of Trustees

 

Approved this 5th day of March, 2003

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Priscilla Ocen, Associated Students President

 

___________________________________
Dan Cornthwaite, Executive Director