Edward Egan and Thane Naberhaus were fired on Monday, February 8 from their faculty positions at Mount St. Mary's University in Maryland.
Egan, who advised the Pre-Law program, was also the faculty supervisor to the Mountain Echo, the student newspaper that broke the news that the president of Mount St. Mary's devised a plan to dismiss at-risk students in order to improve the university's retention statistics. ( http://msmecho.com/2016/01/19/mount-presidents-attempt-to-improve-retention-rate-included-seeking-dismissal-of-20-25-first-year-students/)
Naberhaus, a tenured philosophy professor, joined Egan and others in opposing and then speaking out against these actions.
Both of them were fired by the president for lack of "loyalty" to Mount St. Mary's.
Contributions to this fund will be used to cover any legal fees incurred in helping Ed and Thane win back their jobs. Any contributions that are not needed for this purpose will be donated to Bottom Line, Inc. ( http://www.bottomline.org/), a charity devoted to helping disadvantaged college students get in to college, graduate, and go far in life.
I donated (here!).
It's really a no-brainer. It's a matter of justice and self-interest to support them. Even though the President of Mount St. Mary's (partially) reinstated the fired faculty, it's obvious that unless the president resigns, law-suits and the threat of litigation are pretty much inevitable. Not only is the job-security of professors Edward Egan and Thane Naberhaus -- a tenured philosopher -- still imperiled, but this president will also keep trying to intimidate and silence other faculty members. If this president succeeds, other presidents (who are not speaking up against this!) will follow suit. To block this slippery slope, faculty members everywhere need to show solidarity and keep drumming up public outrage. But the main way to prevent Mount St. Mary's and its craven board of trustees to use the law as a means to intimidate Professors Edward Egan and Thane Naberhaus, is to make sure that their legal defense fund is deep enough to go to court if necessary, and prevail there.
I donated, and will donate again if this is not resolved soon. Will you?
damn skippy
Posted by: Eric Winsberg | 02/15/2016 at 11:29 AM