Promotion denial sparks grad protest

More than 40 members of the University community demonstrated in front of Van Pelt Library yesterday to protest last month's decision of the University's Personnel Committee to deny full professorship to Associate English Professor Vicki Mahaffey, graduate chairperson of the English Department. School of Arts and Sciences graduate student Mike Strong spoke at the demonstration about Mahaffey's accomplishments and her ability as a professor. "Dr. Mahaffey clearly deserves to be recognized as a leader here at Penn for her 15 years of excellent service," he said. In an interview last night, Mahaffey attributed her denied appointment to the equal balance that she maintains between the three criteria considered by the committee -- teaching, service and scholarship. "I think that I've kept my teaching, scholarship and service equal across the board," she said. "But [the Committee's] decision suggests to me that they shouldn't be equal." Rather, the Committee feels "professors should be 'Tuesday/Thursday' professors, and not concern themselves with teaching or service," she added. Mahaffey said her situation also subtly raises a question of gender equality in the promotion process. "For men, [the University] counts teaching and service, but for women they expect it," she said. "For men, they don't expect it." She also criticized the University's promotion system for its lack of accountability. "They didn't give me reasons -- no letters, nothing in writing," she said. "They only suggested that my second book should already have been sent to the press, not only completed, before I am promoted." At yesterday's demonstration, SAS graduate student Matthew Ruben read a letter written by Graduate English Association members which was later delivered to Provost Stanley Chodorow. It requested his office's "support [for] the promotion of Dr. Mahaffey." Chodorow said yesterday that "there are things that [the GEA is] asking me to do that I cannot do, because it wouldn't be appropriate to the [tenure] process." But GEA President Katie Conrad said he and SAS Dean Rosemary Stevens have the power to reverse the Personnel Committee's decision. In an interview yesterday, English Department Chairperson John Richetti said Mahaffey had his support and that of his department. "She's a very smart, brilliant person -- a great person and a great scholar," he said. "She had the nearly unanimous support of the English Department." But upon approval by her department, Mahaffey's promotion was rejected by the Personnel Committee -- which is responsible for all appointments, tenures and promotions. Conrad said the promotion system is "mystified," and added that "you can't pin anyone down." English graduate student Daniel Simpson, who attended the demonstration, voiced the same suspicions as Mahaffey. "There's a clear perception that while the University has the right rhetoric on teaching excellence, publications are given much more weight in the tenure process," he said. Although Mahaffey said she prides herself on her ability to balance the three criteria, she added that she "stands behind the quality and quantity of her publications fully." SAS Associate Dean Richard Beeman said "this case and others raise questions about the criteria for promotion and tenure." Yesterday's demonstration was organized by the GEA.

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