[Discussion] Brooklyn College Reappoints History Professor After His Dismissal Stirs Protests

[Paksoy, Hb]

Brooklyn College Reappoints History Professor After His Dismissal Stirs
Protests 

Friday, December 6, 2002

By SCOTT SMALLWOOD

Brooklyn College has reappointed a popular history professor for another
year after scholars and students protested his dismissal. 

Robert David Johnson, a 34-year-old associate professor who has published
two books with Harvard University Press, had been turned down earlier this
year in his bid for promotion. Later, the college's appointments committee
also recommended that he not be reappointed for next year. However,
Christoph M. Kimmich, the college president, announced this week that Mr.
Johnson would be reappointed. 

Lisa Daglian, a spokeswoman for Brooklyn College, said the president had
reviewed Mr. Johnson's file and found no reason not to reappoint him. Mr.
Johnson, who came to Brooklyn in 1999 as a tenure-track associate professor,
had requested the promotion to full professor a year before his scheduled
tenure decision. Ms. Daglian said the professor has now been invited to
reapply for promotion and tenure next year. 

"It takes the winds out of his sails," she said. "He's been saying there's
some conspiracy." 

Mr. Johnson said his promotion request was turned down after a fallout with
the department chairman, Philip F. Gallagher, who had criticized him as
uncollegial because of their disagreements during a search for a new
European historian. Mr. Gallagher did not respond to messages from The
Chronicle. 

In November, 21 U.S. historians sent a letter to Matthew Goldstein,
chancellor of the City University of New York system, asking him to "reverse
this disastrous and unjust decision." They said dismissing Mr. Johnson
reflected a "culture of mediocrity" at CUNY. 

This week, students marched to the president's office to protest the
decision to dismiss Mr. Johnson, submitting a petition with more than 400
student signatures. 




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Background article from The Chronicle: 
Historians Criticize Tenure Denial at CUNY's Brooklyn College (11/15/2002)