William Donnelly, Chair of the Board of Directors

Herbert, The American Historical Association expresses grave concern about the recent approval by John Carroll University’s Board of Directors of a “budgetary hardship” amendment to the university’s Faculty Handbook. [...] When read within the broad context of faculty handbooks at most universities, this change apparently could permit the termination of individual tenured faculty members under the guise of restructuring and program prioritization, absent the kind of acute financial crisis that normally would permit such extreme measures. [...] As the largest and most prominent organization of professional historians in the United States, with over 11,000 members engaged in the teaching and practice of history at colleges and universities, secondary schools, historical institutes, museums, and other institutions, the American Historical Association is most concerned with the implications of this new policy on John Carroll’s traditionally. [...] The AHA urges the administration to consider the educational impact of this new policy. [...] This measure has the potential to weaken the preparation of your students for the global citizenship imperative to economic and civic accomplishment, as well as for the lifelong learning essential to occupational and professional success.