Faculty Union Issues Statement Calling For Results of Investigation into Football Coach to Be Made Public, Decision on His Future Could Come on Friday September 11
By Scott Logan, Charlie Kratovil
From Left to Right: President Bob Barchi, BOG Chairman Greg Brown, Football Coach Kyle Flood, and AD Julie Hermann Charlie Kratovil
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—The Rutgers University Board of Governors (BOG) will meet behind closed doors for a secret meeting on September 11, presumably to discuss the brewing scandals related to the football team.
The board has broad powers to set tuition rates, negotiate with unions, buy land and build new buildings, as well as hire and fire the University’s President.
But the board, which had not been scheduled to meet until October 14, will only meet regarding “athletics matters and anticipated or pending litigation,” on September 11.
[…]The faculty union, Rutgers AAUP-AFT, announced on September 9 that it had approved a resolution regarding Flood’s alleged communication with the teacher, who is believed to be a part-time lecturer.
Published reports indicated that Flood disregarded the advice of his academic support staff and directly contacted the faculty member about the student’s grade.
In his own defense, Flood seemingly admitted to contacting faculty directly, which would be a violation of university policy.
The resolution calls for Rutgers to “act decisively and publicly to maintain its credibility,” and states the alleged email has “caused concern within and outside the University community.”
Most notably, the union has urged Rutgers to investigate any potential communication Flood has had with his players’ instructors “with particular attention to possible intimidation or bullying of vulnerable, contingent faculty.”
The union called for academic freedom in regards to assessing students’ performance.
“Academic freedom is an essential component of quality higher education and the freedom for faculty members to assess students’ work without external pressure is an essential component of academic freedom,” the resolution reads.
The union added that a Rutgers diploma is dependent on “a grading process free of external interference.”
The union also alleged that the student in question had been assigned an “F” by the unnamed instructor. Neither Barnwell nor the teacher were mentioned by name in the statement.
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