Click for Article about me published in the Kalamazoo GazetteI thought this article was fair and balanced. Being interviewed by Paula Davis was a pleasure. She is a professional and very thorough.
I love that the university hedged and how it hedged. I knew there would be an attempt to deflect, but the sentence quoted truly says nothing at all: "When personnel decisions are made, quite likely there are multiple reasons behind them," she said."
Great sentence. I applaud Cheryl Roland. Well done. The quote does not explicitly state that I was "fired" (not offered a contract but after ten years it feels like being fired... I am out of work, same thing). The sentence does not confirm that I was fired for multiple reasons. But it implies that I was, though there's a clear out if there were to be a legal issue, ever.
My only criticism of the Gazette article follows from Roland's quote. I cannot fault Paula Davis because I know from personal experience having worked as a journalist how the process unfurls. But I wish this quote had followed Roland's: "I am 100% certain that I have not violated any professional or ethical standards of conduct," Tower said.
As the only male teaching in the Gender and Women's Studies Department, I thought it was important to be as professional as possible. Sure, I am a friendly person. Yes, I can be casual and even chummy with students. I joke with students, and I chat with students in a familiar way. But I have not ever broken any of the rules in the employee handbook regarding my interactions with students.
And yet, perhaps it is best that the issue was not addressed at all, except for the very abstract hint by Roland.
Other than my quote about professionalism, the article summed up the situation very well. The university's decision puzzles me. I still do not understand it. With luck and some help from those willing to advocate for me, I hope to have some answers some time soon.
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