President Joseph Aoun seems to like Northeastern’s students. He can be seen on a regular basis, walking the campus grounds, shaking hands and meeting those whose higher education he is now in charge of. Aoun has not, however, made much effort to reach out to the one contingency students interact with the most: the faculty.
Over the course of the past year since he arrived at Northeastern, it seems as though the faculty has just not been feeling the love from President Aoun. According to an article that ran in The News last week, tenure-track professors are particularly anxious about their standing at the school, and feel left out from major decisions being made by the president. These concerns are perfectly valid, and it’s unfortunate that Aoun isn’t doing more to ease them. Tense professors, it seems, would be in less than perfect condition to shape the minds of young and eager students.
The faculty has not responded to the president’s indifference kindly. Before a scheduled executive session during Facutly Senate last week, Carol Glod, chair of the Agenda Committee, outlined a list of grievances against Aoun, including moving the modern languages program into the School of Professional and Continuing Studies without a faculty vote and appointing an athletics committee chair without the required senate approval.
These two points alone are major cause for concern. The idea of moving an entire department into a new school without consulting the faculty is nothing short of disturbing. Aoun seems to think that the faculty and departments are a slightly larger version of a hockey puck, easily moved from one place to another in the blink of an eye without warning. This is certainly not the case, and that he would have such a blatant disregard for the procedures and powers granted to the faculty is very much offensive and disrespectful.
After listing its grievances, the senate went into an executive session. The session is a meeting closed off to those not in the senate at which everyone present must sign a confidentiality form. The last executive session at Northeastern was held during the Vietnam War.
These are rare meetings, and that the Faculty Senate would have one sends a pretty clear message that something is wrong. Because of the secretive nature of the meetings, it’s pretty impossible to know what happened, but it’s a sign that the faculty isn’t happy and all signs point to Aoun as the source of that unhappiness.
One thing that remains very clear is that Aoun is focused on improving Northeastern, but he’s going about it in a fashion that’s leaving a bad taste in the mouths of those it most affects.
The faculty is the backbone of any university, and it’s particularly true here. It’s simply not in the best interests of the students to have the president pitted against the professors, and it’s time to reconcile before this small conflict disseminates into an all out war. The faculty has spoke its mind. Aoun, it’s up to you.
