Huckleberries Online

NIC Wrongly Fired Anti-Repub Teacher

Posted by DFO

Feb. 17, 2009 3:43 p.m. • 15 comments

The decision to discontinue Bryan’s employment came a semester after one of her students went public concerning some political dialogue in her English class. An anti-Republican remark upset the student enough to request a refund from the college. What’s more, the AAUP report also recognizes that her relationship with the school weakened after a dispute between administrators and her husband, Keith Hunter, a tenured English instructor and former director of The Writing Center/Jack Donahue, North Idaho College Sentinel. More here. And Original story here.

15 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Cabbage Boy on February 17 at 3:50 p.m.
Hmmm.
Joker on February 17 at 4:46 p.m.
Not sure why an English instructor would bring politics into their classroom.
misc on February 17 at 5:41 p.m.
Not sure why a college is confused about the concept of academic freedom.
Arch_Druid on February 17 at 10:38 p.m.
Not sure why free speech isn’t acceptable in this GOP state of Idaho.
Joker on February 17 at 11:34 p.m.
I smell lawsuit and settlement. It looks like NIC bungled how it handled this one.

The instructor misjudged how much protection she had from the college. Did she forget where she lives, one of the most conservative states in the Union? Feels like a thinning of the herd moment.
Abbey on March 05 at 12:41 p.m.
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=405670&c=1

An update regarding the Jessica Bryan/North Idaho College situation, the American Association of University Professors’ report, and the latest in the UK’s TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION.
Abbey on March 06 at 4:11 p.m.
DFO, Why no “front pager” (just the link to the CD’A PRESS story) regarding NIC spending $13K on a trip so administrators can learn—which they need to do!—about making ethical decisions?

I posted the following at the PRESS because it is an important issue to me, but I hate having to comment there. I’d much rather engage with you and fellow HBOers. Here’s the short version (minus a copy and paste of the TIMES article) I posted at the CD’A PRESS:

Hey, folks. Listen. I am glad NIC blew $13+K to send a group for this. The group needed to hear a few words on ethical decision making. That is for sure. Last month, the College faced heat (reported in the NIC SENTINEL) for the allegedly unethical firing of Donna Ward, Pres. Bells Administrative Assistant. And this month, Jessica Bryan, a former part-time NIC English faculty member again made the news, although world-wide this time. See the following update regarding the Jessica Bryan/North Idaho College situation, the American Association of University Professors’ report, and the latest in the UK’s TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION. I have copied and pasted the relevant sections below, but the full article can be read by copying and pasting the following address into your search engines browser:

timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=405670&c=1
Abbey on March 08 at 11:44 a.m.
Without a little help here, DFO, I will have to keep battling it out over at the PRESS Story Comments, and I’d rather, as I have said before, engage here with you and other HBOers. To meet your 4,000-word limit, I have used elipsis points to show omissions. See the comments below from the PRESS blog:

Abbey wrote on Mar 8, 2009 11:18 AM:
” I didn’t miss the point, ‘to Abbey.’ I was being sarcastic. I agree. Given all the perks and discretional budgets (expense accounts) they have, administrators should pay for their own ‘professional development,’ especially if it is, as this was, a waste of money on a ‘no brainer’ conference like how to make ethical decisions. If you don’t know how to treat your employees ethically when you accept an administrative position, somebody made a mistake in offering you the job. What I was trying to shed light on was how the college administrators—everybody from the chair of English to the president of the college, including the dean, the vice-president, and the PR man—bungled the Bryan situation badly. Letting instructor Bryan go was not an ethical move, especially not given the circumstances surrounding the decision. On top of that, the president’s secretary, Donna Ward, was apparently fired for suspect reasons, and she is suing the college for her job back plus damages. And let’s not forget the Ed Cooridor sham. What is going on down there at the college? The turn-over rate is outrageous, and all the new folks in administration appear to be cleansing the campus to make room for more and more of their own favorite cronies. It’s sickening, especially since the college has now received negative press both nationally and world-wide, and I can’t figure out why someone with authority isn’t doing something about it. Until that place gets cleaned up, it will not see another dime of my money—beyond the ever-increasing tax dollars the college continues to rob from taxpayers, of course, which we can do nothing about. Maybe if more people were vocal, if more people wrote letters and complained, if more people made it very clear that this community does not support what the college is doing, something would change. It’s a sad state of affairs, and it frustrates me very much. ”

to Abbey wrote on Mar 7, 2009 10:41 AM:
” You missed the point, they should pay for their own continuing education not the public, that was the main point. ”

…

to noman wrote on Mar 6, 2009 12:19 PM:
” Huh? What did you say. “Can’t get that with an on site seminar”? Whew, where are you going with that statement? …

Excuse Me wrote on Mar 6, 2009 12:11 PM:
” Why is it that electricians, attorneys, doctors, etc., have to attend continuing education and pay for it out of their own pockets. See, the picture gets real fuzzy with paying for these people for “leadership training” come on folks, free ride is all it is. Another slap in the taxpayers face by NIC….
…

rls wrote on Mar 6, 2009 11:50 AM:
” To to student wrote on Mar 6, 2009 11:43 AM: NIC did it to themselves with very very poor money management practices and pet liberal projects using our money that the community doesn’t want going on here and the fact that NO college needs the most expensive land in the entire county “That in itself is rediculas” Not to mention liberal proffesors that have worn out their welcome here.

Hagadon has NOTHING at all to do with NIC destroying it’s own credibility. ”

…

Notta Stakeholder wrote on Mar 6, 2009 7:55 AM:
” Most commercial training enterprises will do onsite training. Would it have been a better value to hire a company offering similar training to put it on at NIC where not only NIC people but others could have taken advantage of it? Or did the NIC people just want to get out of town? ”

…

Notta Stakeholder wrote on Mar 6, 2009 6:35 AM:
” Let us hope the NIC Trustees listened to Ms. Burns’ presentation before she went off to Nashville. Clearly they need to hear it. ”

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.