Beverly Haviland, visiting associate professor and senior lecturer in American civilization, has filed a civil suit against the University after administrators granted her a two-and-a-half year contract extension and not the full five-year renewal she claims she was virtually guaranteed when she was hired.
Haviland and her husband, former Dean of the College Paul Armstrong, came to Brown in 2001 from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where both held tenured positions. Haviland was an associate professor of comparative literature and Armstrong was the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
In conjunction with becoming a dean at Brown, Armstrong was granted tenure as a professor of English. Though Haviland was not offered tenure at Brown, the administrators who negotiated her hire promised her almost all the benefits of tenure, including virtually automatic renewal of her five-year contract, according to documents filed in the Superior Court of Rhode Island as part of the suit.
Armstrong stepped down as dean of the College on June 30 but will remain at the University as a professor of English. The timing of his decision to leave the post was not surprising, as faculty members typically hold administrative positions for terms of about five years.
In an Oct. 1, 2000 letter to Haviland that was included in court documents, Mary Fennell, then dean of the faculty, wrote, "Your appointment shall be renewed for additional five year terms unless the University presents to you in writing adequate cause for non-renewal of your appointment ... (which) shall be understood to be substantially equivalent to adequate cause for dismissal of a tenured faculty member."
Fennell's letter cites the Faculty Rules and Regulations as defining adequate cause for dismissal of a tenured professor to be "demonstrated incompetence, dishonesty in teaching or research, substantial and manifest neglect of duty or personal conduct which substantially impairs fulfillment of institutional responsibility."
In another letter to Haviland dated Nov. 17, 2000 and filed with the court, Fennell noted that neither of Haviland's positions - visiting associate professor or senior lecturer - carried tenure, yet Fennell provided assurances that Haviland's positions would be renewed.
Fennell wrote that visiting professorships are "not usually renewable beyond the initial term" but that "exceptions in extraordinary circumstances can be made," that she "would expect the University to consider your situation as one of those exceptions" and that the renewal of appointment is "assured."
Even though senior lecturers also do not have tenure, Fennell wrote that non-renewal is "rare" and that "in the past five years, there have been fifteen senior lecturer recommendations for renewal (and) all fifteen of them were renewed."
Haviland's court complaint argued that she resigned her tenured position at SUNY-Stony Brook based on the University's promises.
Haviland's initial five-year term expired on December 31, 2005. On Dec. 1, 2004, the University's Tenure, Promotion and Appointments Committee, the faculty committee that makes recommendations on faculty appointments to the provost and president, did not recommend Haviland for re-appointment to a full term, according to Haviland's court complaint. Provost Robert Zimmer, who left the University June 30 to become president of the University of Chicago, then decided to offer Haviland a two-and-a-half year term. The court document does not say why TPAC or the provost decided not to renew Haviland's contract for a full five-year term.
Haviland's suit alleges the University violated her contract by failing to use the "criteria negotiated and agreed upon" in Haviland's employment agreement with the University - that her contract would be renewed barring adequate cause for dismissal equivalent to the criteria used to dismiss tenured professors.
On Jan. 27, 2005, Haviland appealed the provost's decision to President Ruth Simmons, who defended the provost's action in an April 25, 2005 letter to Haviland. "It is my understanding that you have in fact been offered reappointment, with the condition that, because your teaching was not judged to meet the standard of excellence required, you will be reconsidered for reappointment again in 2006-2007."
"The University has not only the right but the responsibility to assure itself of excellence in teaching," Simmons wrote. "I therefore believe that the provost ... appropriately concluded that a shorter term is appropriate and in keeping with the University's stated standards for teaching."
Simmons' letter stressed that the assurances made to Haviland in 2000 "did not and could not grant you immunity from evaluation as to your performance in the areas of teaching, service and scholarship."
University lawyers argued in a response to Haviland's complaint filed with the court that Haviland "knew, or at the very least should have known, that no faculty member could be awarded tenure, or the functional equivalent of tenure, by any body other than the Corporation of Brown University."
The president, provost and dean of the faculty who negotiated contracts for Armstrong and Haviland no longer work in University Hall, but all are still at Brown in faculty positions. Then-Interim President Sheila Blumstein is a professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences, then-Provost Kathryn Spoehr '69 is a professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences and Fennell, the former dean of the faculty, is a professor of sociology and chair of the department.
Both Blumstein and Fennell wrote letters to Simmons in January 2005 explaining the context of the 2000 negotiations with Haviland and clarifying the assurances made to her at the time of her hire. The letters have been included in court filings.
Fennell wrote to Simmons that she "was attempting to craft an offer of appointment for Dr. Haviland that would be attractive to her and that she could accept, given that we could not offer her a position that would have been comparable to her position at the time at SUNY-Stonybrook [sic], associate professor with tenure."
The offer "guaranteed Dr. Haviland some semblance of job security even though she would not be considered a tenured member of the faculty," Fennell wrote.
Blumstein's letter to Simmons notes that Haviland's reluctance to give up her tenured position at SUNY-Stony Brook to come to Brown was an "issue" that arose during the negotiations with Armstrong to bring him to the University as dean of the College. The offer to Haviland assured her that "she would be reviewed following the same standards as tenured faculty," Blumstein wrote.
The outcome of the suit remains to be seen. Haviland's initial complaint was filed on Aug. 18, 2005, and the University filed its responses on Sept. 12. Haviland's attorney has repeatedly filed non-binding requests to depose Simmons and Zimmer, but it is not clear whether these depositions have occurred.
Haviland declined to comment for this article. Michael Chapman, vice president for public affairs and University relations, said the University will not comment on the case because "employment matters are confidential."
Blumstein declined to comment, and Fennell and Spoehr did not return a phone message seeking comment left at their offices.
