College of Communication faculty and Provost Dennis Berkey will meet Tuesday to discuss John Schulz’s future as COM dean, BU officials confirmed Sunday night.
Schulz, who is on a one-year contract with the university, will not attend the meeting but has put his full support behind it and notified faculty about the meeting in a memo last week.
‘This meeting has my fullest and strongest endorsement and is yet another signal of the importance our new senior administrators at Boston University place on hearing from you,’ Schulz wrote in the memo, according to The Boston Globe.
Nick Mills, an associate professor of journalism, said coming to conclusions about Schulz’s performance is difficult because he only became dean at the beginning of this school year.
‘It’s hard to measure. He hasn’t been there very long,’ Mills said. ‘The jury’s still out on that. He hasn’t really had a chance to be successful or unsuccessful.’
Many faculty will probably attend the meeting to have an opportunity to speak out, he said.
‘I would be very surprised if very many people miss this meeting,’ Mills said.
Along with giving the faculty the chance to discuss future COM leadership, Mills said it is also a welcome turn around for an administration that has traditionally ignored faculty opinion.
‘I think the new acting president has taken steps to bring the faculty back into the loop, and I think that’s a very welcome step for him to take,’ Mills said. ‘I think it’s a terrific step in the right direction.’
Berkey said the university is simply looking for faculty input on COM’s leadership.
‘John Schulz is a distinguished member of the COM faculty and an experienced and successful department chairman,’ Berkey said in an email. ‘The administration believes he has done an excellent job thus far, but it is important for us to consult with the faculty before deciding how to proceed with a permanent appointment.’
However, one COM professor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said BU should follow its own procedures and conduct a worldwide search for a COM dean.
‘I think he is certainly welcome to compete in that field. And I’d have to say it’s an open question, and what I think is terribly important for BU is to be willing to face open questions,’ the professor said. ‘Such as, ‘Is John Schulz the best person in the world to lead our college?’ If he is, great, that would be very reassuring to know, but we can’t possibly know that with the way he was put in there. All we know is that he was one person’s favorite we don’t know if he was the best for the job.’
Schulz was appointed dean in May after then-Chancellor John Silber asked Dean Brent Baker to resign.
The professor also said many faculty disliked Baker, and Schulz has benefited from simply being a different administrator.
‘Following Brent Baker put him in a very favorable light,’ the professor said. ‘I think there was a tremendous animosity toward Brent Baker among the faculty.’
Mills said Schulz’s appointment came without faculty input, and this week’s discussion should be energetic.
‘I think that [Schulz] would agree that the manner in which he became dean was sort of unusual,’ Mills said. ‘We haven’t, as a faculty, had the opportunity to discuss it. What the outcome will be, I would not even care to predict.’
An article in Sunday’s Globe reported that COM faculty without tenure may be scared of speaking out against Schulz at the meeting, but Berkey disagreed.
‘The COM faculty have no reason not to be forthcoming with their opinions,’ Berkey said. ‘Faculty at Boston University can speak their minds without fear of retribution, whether or not they have tenure.’
Mills also said he expects faculty to voice their true feelings.
‘I would be very surprised at this point if people would be afraid to speak out,’ Mills said. ‘I think they will be quite willing and eager to speak their minds. I don’t think anybody will hesitate out of any fear of retribution of any kind.’