Crystal Luong
News Editor
Stirring speculation and discussion among the community, Dr. Ronald Fagan will resume instruction in the fall — stripped of tenure status and reduced in rank, from professor to associate professor of sociology.
Although fully employed, Fagan has been absent from the classroom since last semester pending a grievance hearing and decisions about his future at Pepperdine.
“We followed the RTP (Rank, Tenure and Promotion) manual and tenure policies carefully in so far as process is concerned,” said Seaver Dean David Baird.
Concerns that Fagan had forged student evaluations arose last May, according to anonymous sources. Following procedure, the RTP committee evaluated Fagan’s case, independent of his identity, and determined that the forgery of student evaluations was grounds for dismissal, the sources said.
Fagan then exercised his right to grieve and underwent an administrative hearing in the fall to provide a full defense for his case. Sources confirmed that Fagan has admitted to the forgeries on at least two occasions.
Recognizing the seriousness of Fagan’s actions, the grievance committee deemed that appropriate actions would be for the University to strip Fagan of tenure, reduce his rank and require a public apology, sources said.
The final decision on the matter rested with University President Andrew K. Benton, as consistent with the grievance procedure in the RTP manual. Benton, in an unprecedented move, overturned the Seaver RTP committee’s recommendation and upheld grievance committee recommendations.
The final decision has triggered some unrest among those aware of the proceedings.
“The perception is that there is disappointment because the president didn’t support the Seaver wishes,” an anonymous source said.
Both Benton and Fagan declined to comment on personnel matters.
In general, the revocation of tenure is a relatively rare event, according to Dr. Cindy Miller-Perrin, professor of psychology and chair of the RTP committee.
A tenured faculty member has the right to continue to be employed by the University unless there is “adequate cause” for termination of tenure, according to the Pepperdine Tenure Policy Statement.
The policy states that cause “must be related, directly and substantially, to the fitness of the faculty member … to a situation of serious neglect of duty, incompetence, gross misconduct, moral turpitude, or to a clear demonstration of a consistent pattern of disregard for the policies, the Christian values or the mission of the University.”
The issues involved in Fagan’s situation, although details have been confidential, have raised broader discussions of general conduct at Pepperdine.
“I think … that we do a very poor job discussing and contemplating the ethical issues we (the faculty) must confront,” said Dr. Robin Perrin, professor of sociology. “We are more than willing to discuss the ethics of our students, but we seem to believe that we ourselves are above unethical behavior.”
Fagan, who began his career at Pepperdine in 1978, is scheduled to teach three courses this fall: a first year seminar on social problems, criminology and juvenile delinquency.
03-24-2005