Insubordination in academic environment

[syz]

Recently I have been accused of insubordination. To keep the story short, I went around my immediate supervisor (coordinator of the program) during an improper hiring process and asked my department chair to intervene. The chair did intervene and corrected the process, but this infuriated the coordinator who sent threatening emails to the dean and provost that I had been bypassing his authority and making it impossible for him to run the program. He used the word insubordination and indicated clearly that if I did not go by his decisions running the program I would be served with official letter of insubordination. Although I am tenured and I know I can't be fired, I am little confused what insubordination really means in academic environment and what happens when you speak up and have to take actions bypassing your immediate supervisor for the sake of the program.

[downer]

What mechanisms do you have to protect yourself? Do you have a union or some kind of facutly representative who can defend your rights?

To me it sounds like you were not insubordinate, but instead were whistleblowing.

One source defines insubordination this way:

There are three factors in determining insubordination:
The employer gives the order.
The employee acknowledges the order.
The employee refuses to carry out the order.

That does not describe your situation.
You
Some universities have explicit policies protecting whistleblowers. You should check yours.

[Caracal]

I would assume that this person has no idea what they are talking about and insubordination was just the most emotionally satisfying word they could think of. I very much doubt there is such a thing as "an official letter of insubordination." Even if such a thing exists it doesn't apply here. I assume a tenured professor could be at risk if they refused to do something that was fully within the authority of their supervisor to order them to do. For example, you couldn't just flat out refuse to teach a course assigned to you. I guess that could be considered insubordinate.

You should probably talk to your chair about this. I'd assume they are on your side since they overruled this doofus in the first place. If the chair is any good they can probably handle it from there.

[syz]

Yes, the chair knows the appropriate process was not followed so he intervened. But he doesn't want to go an extra mile to confront the coordinator who is a senior person and he hopes things will be settled within the program. Because it is a small program there were two people in the hiring committee other than the coordinator, I and a non-tenured faculty, both of us got threatened by him for insubordination. There is no mention of whistleblower or similar situations in the faculty handbook. There is faculty senate but their role is advisory to the president. But there is a process of addressing faculty grievance which I can take. Does the insubordination accusation actually apply in academic environment or the academic freedom of faculty is protected under AAUP guideline? My guess is that, even if someone forces you to teach courses which you don't like you can say no if you are tenured.

I would assume that this person has no idea what they are talking about and insubordination was just the most emotionally satisfying word they could think of. I very much doubt there is such a thing as "an official letter of insubordination." Even if such a thing exists it doesn't apply here. I assume a tenured professor could be at risk if they refused to do something that was fully within the authority of their supervisor to order them to do. For example, you couldn't just flat out refuse to teach a course assigned to you. I guess that could be considered insubordinate.

You should probably talk to your chair about this. I'd assume they are on your side since they overruled this doofus in the first place. If the chair is any good they can probably handle it from there.

[Ruralguy]

Insubordination is real in the academic environment, but a better example might be if you were asked not to reveal that a certain donation was about to come in, or a donation was cancelled, and you were asked not to reveal, and you went to the press.

Not teaching a class you were assigned is closer to dereliction of duty.

In any case, either *could* be a reason to dismiss someone.

Are you in a right to work state? Do you have tenure or in a TT position...if the answers are yes and no,
you may not have much recourse, aside from the grievance procedure, which is usually a months long process that goes nowhere.

[Caracal]

Insubordination is real in the academic environment, but a better example might be if you were asked not to reveal that a certain donation was about to come in, or a donation was cancelled, and you were asked not to reveal, and you went to the press.

Not teaching a class you were assigned is closer to dereliction of duty.

In any case, either *could* be a reason to dismiss someone.

Are you in a right to work state? Do you have tenure or in a TT position...if the answers are yes and no,
you may not have much recourse, aside from the grievance procedure, which is usually a months long process that goes nowhere.

The OP is tenured I believe.

[Ruralguy]

Tenure does not give you the right to object to anything you please, and certainly not a right to disobey under any circumstances.

It just protects you from being fired at will. That is, there has to be a procedure for dismissal.

Simply voicing displeasure at a teaching assignment should not and most likely would not lead to someone being lead into a dismissal procedure. This probably would be protected by academic freedom, but its more likely it just wouldn't come to that.  Of course, not teaching what you were assigned could very well be reason for dismissal.

[Ruralguy]

Ok, seeing that you have tenure, simply voicing an objection does not seem to be grounds for dismissal or anything close, especially since you went through a reasonable channel to resolve the issue. Ask the Dean to resolve the situation or file a grievance.

I don't think you can reasonably be fired (I say "reasonably", because you *can* be fired..just not in this way and for this purpose) , so I wouldn't worry about that, though your non-tenured colleague could be fired, most likely. The reason why you should go on record in some way is to both protect your non-tenured colleague and keep you from being blocked from being promoted or receiving goodies (internal grants, course releases, endowed professorships, teaching awards, etc.).

[Caracal]

Because it is a small program there were two people in the hiring committee other than the coordinator, I and a non-tenured faculty, both of us got threatened by him for insubordination. There is no mention of whistleblower or similar situations in the faculty handbook. There is faculty senate but their role is advisory to the president. But there is a process of addressing faculty grievance which I can take.

Again, I think this person is just trying to flex muscles they don't have. He wasn't dictator of the hiring committee, so you had every right as a member of the committee to raise any concerns that came up about the process. At the moment, I can't see how you have a grievance. He'd have to try to retaliate against you in some way first. Unless there's more to this story, his options are pretty limited. If he actually tried to file some formal complaint against you, he would almost certainly get nowhere. Depending on the structure of this program, I guess he could try to sideline you or take classes away, but since it sounds like you are within a larger department he may not even be able to do that.

I'd be more concerned about the non tenured faculty member. You should go back to your chair and make sure he has this person's back. You also might try to get some assurances that if this person actually does try to retaliate in some other way, your chair will intervene at that point, although it sounds like your chair might be fairly useless.

[Ruralguy]

Disagree. You have recourse because the idiot put his claims IN WRITING, which presumably you have saved. Thus, he made false claims which *can* (and thus likely *will*) be used against you by somebody or another. The claims need to be countered in writing and seen and signed onto by Dean and Provost.

[Directional_State_U]

1) Sounds like the coordinator needs a review in shared governance and stakeholder participation.
2) Who is your actual supervisor? The Chair? The Coordinator? The Dean? My guess is that "Coordinator" is not an official position on the org chart and the position doesn't come with supervisory duties over other faculty.
3) You shouldn't be punished for reporting a violation of University policy. Take steps to protect yourself.
4) "Tenure does not give you the right to object to anything you please, and certainly not a right to disobey under any circumstances. It just protects you from being fired at will." True - like being fired or punished at will for reporting a violation of university policy to a superior.

[Hibush]

Disagree. You have recourse because the idiot put his claims IN WRITING, which presumably you have saved. Thus, he made false claims which *can* (and thus likely *will*) be used against you by somebody or another. The claims need to be countered in writing and seen and signed onto by Dean and Provost.

Your version of the context and actions need to be in writing to the relevant administrators. Doing so reduces the likelihood of actions based on false claims. Your letter gives administrators a

Context is important. At my institution, "insubordination" and "dereliction of duty" are used only within ROTC. The terms have no meaning in relation to tenured professors (we have our own words). If the problematic colleague is indeed flexing muscles he doesn't have (thanks, Caracal, for that nice metaphor) then your letter should make clear how you understand the limits of his authority and the extent of your autonomy.

[Caracal]

Disagree. You have recourse because the idiot put his claims IN WRITING, which presumably you have saved. Thus, he made false claims which *can* (and thus likely *will*) be used against you by somebody or another. The claims need to be countered in writing and seen and signed onto by Dean and Provost.

Ok, fair enough. I'd also really urge you to bring up the guy not on the TT in whatever you write. If this person's position comes through the coordinator, they are very vulnerable. Next time their contract comes up it could just not be renewed and nobody would have to give any reason at all.

[syz]

Thanks for all the responses. I will go along with writing a letter against the coordinator for bringing false accusation against me and my colleague. Before the job announcement was put out, the committee informally agreed on the most essential qualifications needed for the position. But when the actual announcement was out it was found that the qualifications were slightly modified by the coordinator to favor one candidate whom he liked. We don't have any documentary evidence against this because we didn't have any minutes of the meeting  (we usually don't keep minutes unless it is important for documentation purposes like accreditation etc), but we all know who the candidate is and that he likes the candidate. I am so shocked to see such people exist in academics. Lesson learned: document what is discussed.

[Ruralguy]

One problem here is that the coordinator's offense is going to  seem like a minor violation at best, especially without evidence.  It will likely just look like he made a minor change to a document without democratic consultation, and frankly, that may not be required (although can be a strong tradition or even policy at some schools and departments).

In other words, the entire incident will likely get dismissed as a squabble.

But, that fact won't help you should this jerk try to flex muscles against you and your untenured colleague. I still go for having you document this with a letter sent to Dean and Provost.