To the Editor:
We are writing to correct mistaken statements in an opinions column and a news article that The Herald has published ("Shame on Ruth," Feb. 17; "Faculty stick together in work and marriage," March 15) about our successful lawsuit to force Brown University to honor promises that induced us to accept faculty positions here.
The Herald twice erroneously reported that we "did not sue Brown" but merely sought a "legal clarification." However, we were indeed compelled to sue Brown because President Ruth Simmons refused to respect commitments the preceding administration had made, and we received a declaratory judgment from Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Allen P. Rubine that orders the University to abide by these agreements.
The Herald is repeating an argument that Brown made in trying to have our case dismissed. The University's lawyers contended that we were seeking an "advisory opinion" and that it was not the business of the court to give legal advice. Judge Rubine considered and rejected this argument.
We agreed to give up our tenured faculty positions at SUNY-Stony Brook and accept jobs at Brown only because the University provided Beverly Haviland with assurances about her reappointment as a non-tenured Senior Lecturer that gave her security of employment equivalent to a tenured faculty member.
A letter outlining these terms was sent to us on Oct. 18, 2000, and Paul Armstrong signed a letter accepting the position of Dean of the College two days later. He had made it clear to Interim President Sheila Blumstein and Provost Kathryn Spoehr that he would not take this post without a commitment to give Haviland the job security she had as a tenured associate professor at Stony Brook.
The key letter, instigated by conversations we had with Blumstein, drafted by Spoehr's office, reviewed by University Counsel Beverly Ledbetter and signed by Dean of the Faculty Mary Fennell, promised that Haviland "shall be renewed for additional five-year terms" unless she was found to have been guilty of "demonstrated incompetence, dishonesty in teaching or research, [or] substantial and manifest neglect of duty" that would "be substantially equivalent to adequate cause for dismissal of a tenured faculty member from the University."
The judge found that this was a clear and unambiguous promise that Brown violated by twice evaluating Haviland for reappointment according to a different standard (and denying her a full five-year renewal after the first review). Brown's violation of this promise gave us no alternative other than to sue the University.
Paul Armstrong
Professor of English
Dean of the College,
2001–2006
Beverly Haviland
Senior Lecturer and Visiting Associate Professor
Department of American Civilization
