American Historical Association addressed the tenured faculty layoffs at the college.
AHA.ORG/COURTESY
By Angelina Persaud, Managing Editor & Asst. News Editor
The American Historical Association (AHA) addressed President Milo Riverso, Ph.D., and Manhattan College administrators in a letter regarding the termination of tenured history faculty members.
The letter was released in January in concurrence with the largest round of faculty layoffs at the college. Particularly, it addresses the downsizing of the history department at MC from six to three remaining faculty members.
The letter itself was a collaborative statement created by two faculty members, the head of the governing board and signed by the AHA’s executive director, James Grossman.
The AHA pointed to the financial struggles currently facing the college and called into question whether the elimination of tenured faculty would promote a solution or rather sacrifice the liberal arts core at the college.
“Our experience with comparable institutions is that these kinds of consolidations usually sacrifice academic quality to financial efficiencies, especially at institutions with the high standards that characterize the reputation of Manhattan College,” the letter read.
According to the AHA website, several letters addressing the downsizing of history programs have been written to various institutions including SUNY Potsdam and West Virginia University.
Grossman told The Quadrangle that many other institutions across the U.S. are facing a similar financial crisis and often have to target specific programs to cut costs.
“We write the kind of letter that you see here, and then we watch and see what happens,” Grossman said. “The issue here is that the administration has identified a problem which obviously they know more about than we do, which has to do with budgets and priorities and they see a problem that needs to be solved.”
Grossman outlined the main ways the AHA exercises its influence in terms of providing resources and advocacy for history education nationwide. He explained that although the association has no formal power to enact policies against institutions, it is able to provide professional development resources for history faculty, “legitimate” the standards of a historian and “inspire” students and faculty through its efforts.
“We don’t control any jobs. We don’t control people’s salaries. We don’t write laws,” Grossman said. “We have the power to bring people together…the power to legitimate in some ways that is involved in the letter that we wrote to the college…we have the power to say this is what good history is, or this is what makes a historian qualified…we have the power to inspire which we hope affects students but also faculty.”
The letter goes on to comment on the necessity of a liberal arts education stating, “As a Lasallian institution with a strong tradition of liberal arts education, Manhattan College has a particularly impressive record of high-quality history education provided by an accomplished faculty committed to undergraduate education. The AHA urges the administration to consider how its actions are undermining this commitment to the liberal arts and the training of teachers, and the importance of the liberal arts to the lifelong learning essential to occupational and professional success.”
The Office of the President provided a statement to The Quadrangle explaining its understanding of the AHA’s message as the college continues to navigate the financial turmoil.
“Manhattan College has had to make very difficult and painful decisions in order to continue to provide the highest level of education for our deserving students,” the statement read. “We appreciate the input of the AHA and other outside membership associations and while we wished it would have offered solutions instead of a blanket criticism of these difficult choices that we are facing, we will consider it and all other correspondence from our community and friends as we navigate through these challenges.”
The full letter can be found on the AHA’s website at the following link:
AHA Sends Letter to Manhattan College Opposing Termination of History Faculty Members (January 2024).