Teh One Who Knocks
01-03-2014, 11:13 AM
By Sarah Kuta, Camera Staff Writer
http://i.imgur.com/uVI1hB4.jpg
Patti Adler's controversial University of Colorado course on deviant behavior passed an initial faculty review this week, but the tenured professor is still not sure whether she'll return to teach the class as she weighs legal action against the school.
Adler said she was informed by email Monday that the course "Deviance in U.S. Society" -- with its now-infamous skit about prostitution -- was reviewed by four professors within CU's sociology department and found to be appropriate for her to teach this coming semester.
The committee's page-long report, which also was emailed to sociology faculty members on Monday, concludes that Adler "should be welcome to teach the course in Spring 2014 and thereafter."
"I'm not even sure how I feel," Adler said after learning of the review's recommendation.
Boulder campus spokesman Bronson Hilliard cautioned, though, that Adler is not yet cleared to return to teaching the course, as the sociology department's executive committee still must sign off on the review by professors Jane Menken, Michael Radelet, Kathleen Tierney and Joyce Nielsen.
"The sociology department generally relies on the executive committee to inform and weigh in on the department's major decisions, and this opportunity to weigh in is consistent with that role," Hilliard said.
The long-running deviance course, which contains a lecture about prostitution presented as a skit performed by undergraduate teaching assistants, has been the subject of controversy among CU faculty members and administrators since early December.
That skit, Adler said, was investigated by the Office of Discrimination and Harassment, which she claimed found it to be a "risk" to the university. CU officials said they had concerns about students who may have felt coerced into participating, and possibly filmed without their consent.
In the committee's review of the course, the four faculty members recommend that, in using the skit in the future, Adler document that those involved give "full informed consent to participate, including the possibility of being filmed, and can opt out of participation at any time without penalty."
'Course is highly rated'
Following the investigation by the Office of Discrimination and Harassment, Adler said administrators gave her an ultimatum: take a buyout and retire immediately, or return to campus next semester, but not teach the course on deviance.
Later, administrators decided that Adler could teach the deviance course again if it passed a review by the sociology department.
Adler contacted sociology chair Joanne Belknap by email Dec. 20, asking for Belknap to convene an "ad hoc committee" within the department to review the course. The committee asked her to provide materials from the course on Dec. 25, but Adler said she did not provide any information to the committee because her daughter was in town for the holidays.
In its letter to the department, the committee said it reviewed publicly available Faculty Course Questionnaires for the class for the past seven years. Adler taught the course 11 times for 4,582 students during that time period. Just over half of those students filled out a questionnaire.
The committee paid specific attention to a question on the instructor's respect for students and found that Adler's average scores were in line with other large courses.
"The course is highly rated by students," the committee members wrote in their letter, which was dated Sunday.
The letter was addressed to the sociology department executive committee, which includes Belknap and professors Janet Jacobs, Hillary Potter, Stefanie Mollborn and Tierney, who was part of the review committee.
The committee also spoke with three previous department chairs, Nielsen, Radelet and Richard Rogers, who said they received no formal complaints about Adler from fall 2004 to spring 2013.
The committee also considered the role of the prostitution skit, and found it to be acceptable, pending a few minor changes.
"We were unable to review the lecture and skit on prostitution or discuss it with Professor Adler or other participants," the letter said. "We believe, however, that properly conducted role-playing and skits are meritorious pedagogical techniques."
Menken, Tierney and Nielsen did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Radelet said in an email that none of the four committee members had anything to add to their written statement.
At the end of the letter, the committee recommend that Adler be allowed to resume teaching the course, and that, "If skits or similar role-playing exercises are included, the informed consent procedures discussed above should be carefully considered."
Adler still undecided about future
Adler said she has not yet decided whether she will return to teach the popular 500-student course in the spring. She and her husband, University of Denver sociology professor Peter Adler, confirmed that they are talking with potential attorneys and weighing their legal options.
"The possibility of a lawsuit, which we really didn't consider much 10 days ago, now we are much more seriously considering that and how we would go about it," Peter Adler said. "At this point there's a lot of pressure from other faculty and within our own moral code to go for the lawsuit because we do think now we have a case of defamation at the very least."
Sunday, the CU-Boulder chapter of the American Association of University Professors called on the campus administration to retract Provost Russell Moore's Dec. 16 statement to the university community, arguing it "strongly implied that Professor Adler had sexually harassed her students."
CU's classes resume after the winter break ends Jan. 13. The university has not yet announced who, if anyone, will teach Adler's deviance course in the spring if she does not return.
In the past, Adler has said that administrators told her she would be fired without benefits if she chose to return to campus and even one complaint was filed against her.
"We're considering whether walking into the classroom is a setup," she said. "Whether I'd be able to teach my class in my style. Or would I be worried that any person could walk into the class at anytime, including (the Office of Discrimination and Harassment), and find something objectionable and then complain. I don't think I'm alone in having this worry, but I'm particularly under the spotlight.
"How would that impact my ability to do my job the way I have done it?"
http://i.imgur.com/uVI1hB4.jpg
Patti Adler's controversial University of Colorado course on deviant behavior passed an initial faculty review this week, but the tenured professor is still not sure whether she'll return to teach the class as she weighs legal action against the school.
Adler said she was informed by email Monday that the course "Deviance in U.S. Society" -- with its now-infamous skit about prostitution -- was reviewed by four professors within CU's sociology department and found to be appropriate for her to teach this coming semester.
The committee's page-long report, which also was emailed to sociology faculty members on Monday, concludes that Adler "should be welcome to teach the course in Spring 2014 and thereafter."
"I'm not even sure how I feel," Adler said after learning of the review's recommendation.
Boulder campus spokesman Bronson Hilliard cautioned, though, that Adler is not yet cleared to return to teaching the course, as the sociology department's executive committee still must sign off on the review by professors Jane Menken, Michael Radelet, Kathleen Tierney and Joyce Nielsen.
"The sociology department generally relies on the executive committee to inform and weigh in on the department's major decisions, and this opportunity to weigh in is consistent with that role," Hilliard said.
The long-running deviance course, which contains a lecture about prostitution presented as a skit performed by undergraduate teaching assistants, has been the subject of controversy among CU faculty members and administrators since early December.
That skit, Adler said, was investigated by the Office of Discrimination and Harassment, which she claimed found it to be a "risk" to the university. CU officials said they had concerns about students who may have felt coerced into participating, and possibly filmed without their consent.
In the committee's review of the course, the four faculty members recommend that, in using the skit in the future, Adler document that those involved give "full informed consent to participate, including the possibility of being filmed, and can opt out of participation at any time without penalty."
'Course is highly rated'
Following the investigation by the Office of Discrimination and Harassment, Adler said administrators gave her an ultimatum: take a buyout and retire immediately, or return to campus next semester, but not teach the course on deviance.
Later, administrators decided that Adler could teach the deviance course again if it passed a review by the sociology department.
Adler contacted sociology chair Joanne Belknap by email Dec. 20, asking for Belknap to convene an "ad hoc committee" within the department to review the course. The committee asked her to provide materials from the course on Dec. 25, but Adler said she did not provide any information to the committee because her daughter was in town for the holidays.
In its letter to the department, the committee said it reviewed publicly available Faculty Course Questionnaires for the class for the past seven years. Adler taught the course 11 times for 4,582 students during that time period. Just over half of those students filled out a questionnaire.
The committee paid specific attention to a question on the instructor's respect for students and found that Adler's average scores were in line with other large courses.
"The course is highly rated by students," the committee members wrote in their letter, which was dated Sunday.
The letter was addressed to the sociology department executive committee, which includes Belknap and professors Janet Jacobs, Hillary Potter, Stefanie Mollborn and Tierney, who was part of the review committee.
The committee also spoke with three previous department chairs, Nielsen, Radelet and Richard Rogers, who said they received no formal complaints about Adler from fall 2004 to spring 2013.
The committee also considered the role of the prostitution skit, and found it to be acceptable, pending a few minor changes.
"We were unable to review the lecture and skit on prostitution or discuss it with Professor Adler or other participants," the letter said. "We believe, however, that properly conducted role-playing and skits are meritorious pedagogical techniques."
Menken, Tierney and Nielsen did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Radelet said in an email that none of the four committee members had anything to add to their written statement.
At the end of the letter, the committee recommend that Adler be allowed to resume teaching the course, and that, "If skits or similar role-playing exercises are included, the informed consent procedures discussed above should be carefully considered."
Adler still undecided about future
Adler said she has not yet decided whether she will return to teach the popular 500-student course in the spring. She and her husband, University of Denver sociology professor Peter Adler, confirmed that they are talking with potential attorneys and weighing their legal options.
"The possibility of a lawsuit, which we really didn't consider much 10 days ago, now we are much more seriously considering that and how we would go about it," Peter Adler said. "At this point there's a lot of pressure from other faculty and within our own moral code to go for the lawsuit because we do think now we have a case of defamation at the very least."
Sunday, the CU-Boulder chapter of the American Association of University Professors called on the campus administration to retract Provost Russell Moore's Dec. 16 statement to the university community, arguing it "strongly implied that Professor Adler had sexually harassed her students."
CU's classes resume after the winter break ends Jan. 13. The university has not yet announced who, if anyone, will teach Adler's deviance course in the spring if she does not return.
In the past, Adler has said that administrators told her she would be fired without benefits if she chose to return to campus and even one complaint was filed against her.
"We're considering whether walking into the classroom is a setup," she said. "Whether I'd be able to teach my class in my style. Or would I be worried that any person could walk into the class at anytime, including (the Office of Discrimination and Harassment), and find something objectionable and then complain. I don't think I'm alone in having this worry, but I'm particularly under the spotlight.
"How would that impact my ability to do my job the way I have done it?"