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From: Steven Colatrella [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, May 17, 2004 1:34 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Iowa sociologist fired for labor/abortion comments Dear Prof. Rosen and
fellow marxist sociologists, Pardon my sending
you this, but I have been unable to access the progressive sociologists email
list. I would like this announcement circulated to the marxist section of ASA of
which I am a member (both the section and ASA as a whole of course).
Thanks: I am an ASA member
in the process of being fired for reasons made clear below. Briefly summarized:
a comment I made about abortion from a pro-choice viewpoint at a Catholic
college, Mount Mercy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and a comment I made in the
course of negotiations with the administration over faculty manual revisions and
in defense of tenure rights. 1) Please send a
statement of concern by email or letter to the Dean of the College, Susan Pauly,
at [EMAIL PROTECTED],
or Susan Pauly, Dean, Mount Mercy College, 1330 Elmhurst Drive, NE, Cedar
Rapids, Iowa 52402; 2) send this summary
over whatever email membership list exists on academic freedom or academic and
professional issues so that members may add their names to the statements of
support in my case. Below is a fuller
description of the facts in my case and my biographical info as sent in a
statement to the ACLU. I ask the ASA and
its members to cc any emails to me at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
that I may be able to accurately describe the level of support to the press and
others. I can also be reached at home at 319-366-1078 or on Monday of this week
only at the office at 319-363-1323 ext.1278. I look forward to
speaking with you about this issue. Sincerely, Dr. Steven
Colatrella Acting President,
Iowa Sociological Association Assistant Professor
of Sociology Mount Mercy
College Lorraine
Kenny Reproductive Freedom
Project ACLU Dear Ms. Kenny,
Thank you for your
time on Friday. I am an ACLU member in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I am being fired over
free speech issues: some related to workplace rights, others on reproductive
rights. I am asking the ACLU for any support possible: while I have a lawyer, it
is mainly public pressure on the administration that I am seeking. I believe
that this is both effective in this case of a small, narrow-minded
administration unused and uncomfortable with controversy, and principled: it
should not off-limits to speak about abortion at a Catholic college, and no one
should be fired or silenced for doing so. I am aware that not
all free speech laws apply to private, religiously-affiliated colleges, but most
of these exceptions seem to apply to comments made to students, whereas my
comments were made at a faculty/staff only meeting. In any case, free speech has
a history of expansion into new areas previously closed off and needs only
someone willing to make a sacrifice. I am perfectly willing to become the poster
child for free speech rights over reproductive rights at Catholic colleges.
Losing a job is a small price to pay. Ultimately I do not want to stay at this
place, but any settlement that comes out of my campaign will have to include a
statement from the President and Dean that they will protect free speech rights,
and in particular allow the widest possible _expression_ of views on birth
control, abortion and reproductive rights. If we obtain that, we will have
cracked the Berlin Wall of free speech on abortion at Catholic institutions.
Will the ACLU help me? I have forwarded to
you several emails that are merely a sample of what has come into the Dean,
Susan Pauly, from around the world. I have not done this to pressure you or to
ruin your day. Rather I wanted to give the ACLU a sense of the growing support
for my case in many circles. A final word about
my background: A bit more bio
information on me if it helps: I am the author of "Workers of the World: African
and Asian Migrants in Italy in the 1990s" (Africa World Press Trenton and
Asmara: 2001). I was Fulbright Scholar in 1997, and have taught at Bard
College, at the American University of Rome, the New School University,
Montclair State University, Loyola University's Rome, Italy center. I am
currently Assistant Professor Sociology at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa and for the 2003-2004 academic year I am the current President of the Iowa
Sociological Association. I have worked on the editorial boards of Midnight
Notes and Altreragioni, the latter journal based in Italy. My Ph.D. is in
Sociology from Binghamton University, SUNY, from 1998. I am a former organizer
with two unions, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and the
Committee of Interns and Residents, and the former national Student Organizer
for the National Lawyers Guild, and worked for four years for the late Edith
Tiger at the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee, now part of the
Center for Constitutional Rights. I can be reached in
the office on Monday: 319-363-1323 ext.1278, and at home the rest of the week,
where I will be grading tests: 319-366-1078. I look forward to speaking with
you. Please circulate
this to anyone sympathetic. From Steven Colatrella: I will be notified
officially in June that I am going to be fired from Mount Mercy college. Below
are the reasons as listed by the Dean of the College in a conversation with my
department chair of Sociology, Prof. Mohammad Chaichian. Neither involves
teaching or anything academic. One is a possible unfair labor practice since it
involves comments I made during negotiations over working conditions while on an
official faculty body for that purpose, the other is a free speech issue
involving a comment I made in support of legalized abortion. I spoke to
the Dean today who confirmed that she is meeting with my dept. chair in June to
begin the process of firing me. Now is a good time to send emails or phone calls
to try to forestall the action before it is taken, or at least to indicate that
it will be a costly decision for the college's reputation. I am asking my
friends to send emails to protest or express concern at my impending firing.
Emails can be sent
to the Dean of the College, Susan Pauly, at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Emails can mention
that only two were comments made by the Dean Pauly, to the chair of Sociology,
Prof. Mohammad Chaichian (who has supported me) as to why I will not be renewed
after next year: 1) a comment I
made that the "college is going in the wrong direction" in reference to the
unilaterally rewritten new faculty manual presented by the administration that
allows tenured faculty to be fired at the whim of the administration (for
"unsatisfactory performance" - left undefined), allows the Dean to force faculty
to teach additional courses if they have low enrollement (left undefined) and
allows the President (who has the final say now on all grievances even ones
brought against himself) to eliminate whole departments for budgetary purposes
unilaterally. The comments were made as part of negotiations over this manual
revision while I was on an elected body, the Faculty Welfare Committee, whose
task is to negotiate working conditions with the
administration. 2) a comment I made
at a faculty/staff meeting in reference to a survey conducted by administrators
of our students, showing that only 25% of female students (who are 80% of the
student body) support keeping abortion legal - half the students surveyed were
nursing majors, our biggest major. I said "That we are sending out a lot of
students who will work in the medical profession and are a priori opposed to a
medical procedure that in many cases is a matter of life and death for women
raises a grave ethical concern". I said nothing else on the matter. Yet the Dean
claims that this comment suggests that I do not belong at a Catholic college
(one where half the students are not Catholic, like many of the faculty and
staff). I would appreciate
it if emails sent to the Dean are forwarded to me at [EMAIL PROTECTED],
so that I can keep track of the level of support for press purposes. Susan
Pauly can also be reached by phone at 319-363-8213. I can be reached at
319-366-1078. Thank you,
Steven
Colatrella |
