Note: This article’s content is currently under internal investigation by The Huntington News’ editorial board.

By Maxim Tamarov, news editor

Last week, Northeastern shut down the small Center for Labor Market Studies (CLMS) department in Meserve Hall, which is dedicated to the study of trends in the realm of labor economics.

CLMS was founded in 1979 and was headed by economics professors Andrew Sum and Paul Herrington to help the communities around Northeastern understand the labor markets’ they were involved in.

“Its purpose was to provide state of the art research on labor market activities, including studies of unemployment, wages and training,” Barry Bluestone, trustee professor of political economy, said. “I would think that the center put out some of the best labor market research in the entire country.”

Last year, Sum surreptitiously retired. His leaving expedited the decline of the center, which was already underfunded and underappreciated, according to Bluestone.

“CLMS was really just ‘Andrew Sum has a project idea,’” James Huessy, senior history major and employee of the Dukakis Center, said. Although Sum published multiple articles, he seemed to not hold the esteem of the administration due to a lack of Ph.D. according to Huessy.

“As I understand it, having worked in academia for as long as I have, if you don’t have the right letters after your name, you are dirt,” Huessy said.

Sum also had not found a successor to take over after he retired.

“They had the worst string of luck with employees,” Huessy said. “Their administrative assistant Sheila [Palma] was in the hospital for months after an accident. Andrew Sum’s brother died and I think that hit him pretty hard — he was gone for a while.”

Palma could not be reached for comment, but an automatic email explained she was no longer affiliated with CLMS. It also revealed an interesting fact about the elusive and reticent Sum.

“Andrew Sum is a professor emeritus and will continue to do his research,” Palma’s email said. “This account is my personal account since I am now considered a retiree of Northeastern University.”

Sum could not be reached either.

“In the ensuing years, the attention of [the top administrators] has been much more global and international, much less national and even less so local and domestic,” Bluestone said. “Previous administrations really appreciated the work that Andy and Paul and the center did and felt that it really added to the reputation and luster of the university.”

Bluestone speculated that Northeastern’s support of the center faded when the new administration took over. Herrington then failed to receive tenure and left.

“He went to Drexel and created a major research institute there which is doing similar work,” Bluestone said. “But it was a great loss to Northeastern.”

Last Monday, a gala was held to honor the accomplishments of and celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Dukakis Center. Over 450 people attended a display of the major works of the Dukakis center. Guest speakers at the gala included: Governor Deval Patrick, Senator Ed Markey, a number of members of the house and senate and a video presentation by Elizabeth Warren.

Much like the accomplishments of the CLMS, the administration did almost nothing to bring attention to this esteemed recognition.

“It’s not D’Amore McKim, it’s not the engineering school,” Huessy said. “It’s not their money-making side.”

Correction: The originally published article could have been interpreted to mean that Paul Harrington’s move to Drexel University was a result of a lack of tenure. Mr. Harrington’s move to Drexel was not related to his tenure status in anyway.