Jericho High School '93 Jericho, N.Y. A School of Arts and Sciences Personnel Committee voted in March to deny tenure to popular English Professor Gregg Camfield, shocking many members of the University community. "I did absolutely everything I was supposed to do and to have this happen is quite surprising," Camfield said after hearing of the decision. And many students and English professors -- including Department Chairperson John Richetti -- said they were upset by what they saw as a great injustice. According to Richetti, the requirements for tenure are research, scholarship and service, all of which Camfield said he had fulfilled. Last May, he received the English Undergraduate Advisory Board's (UAB) first annual teaching award. He has also published one book and has a second under contract. And Camfield served on the College's writing committee which helped institute the writing requirement. Undergraduate English Chairperson Al Filreis described Camfield as "just the sort of faculty member we need to retain." He explained that Camfield is especially popular among his students, as he regularly receives perfect 4.0 evaluations in the Penn Course Review. Many members of the English UAB who have had Camfield as a professor said they were extremely disappointed at hearing the news of his rejection. "Outraged doesn't even begin to cover it," said College senior Liz Fekete. "Gregg Camfield is one of the best teachers at this University and I think that fact is uncontestable." She added that she feels the administration acted in a hypocritical fashion. "Maybe I was wrong to believe that University [administrators] meant what they said when they said they were going to support teaching and undergraduate education," Fekete said. "But they have proven by this case that they didn't mean a word they said." The English UAB organized a letter writing campaign in support of Camfield within days of the decision. These letters were directed at SAS Dean Rosemary Stevens, College Dean Robert Rescorla and Provost Stanley Chodorow. The group also wrote up a petition protesting the decision. English UAB member and College senior Michelle Falkoff said the student protest was also against the tenure system itself, which was the subject of much debate this year. Several weeks before Camfield's rejection, Assistant Geology Professor George Boyajian was also refused a permanent position at the University by the same Personnel Committee. However, despite his immense popularity among students, and the fact that he had the unanimous support from his department during his evaluation, Boyajian said at the time that he was not terribly surprised by the Committee's decision. "I have felt from day one that tenure was a crap shoot," he said. "Some people that deserve it probably don't get it -- some people who get it don't deserve it." And in February, the Committee denied full professorship to Associate English Professor Vicki Mahaffey, who is also the graduate chairperson of the English department. More than 40 members of the University community joined together in a demonstration against that decision in front of Van Pelt Library.
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