Petition to the Trustees of New York University
In his e-mail to the University Community, NYU Board of Trustees Chair Martin Lipton announced that John Sexton’s term as NYU’s president would be extended until at least 2016. Although Lipton’s message was directed to the University Community, Lipton and the Board failed to consult that community, its faculty, students, and staff in making this decision. We can think of few decisions more important to the life of the university than who ought to serve as its president and how long a term the president ought to serve. Opinions may differ over the performance of the current president of NYU, but the faculty is united in believing that it must be consulted on the appointment and re-appointment of NYU’s president as well as on the length of the president’s term.
The process problems exhibited in Lipton’s letter represent an unfortunate repetition of the problems when John Sexton was appointed to NYU’s presidency seven years ago. That appointment was made with no faculty consultation and without a national search. NYU’s Board of Trustees has the final responsibility for making the presidential appointment, but the decision-making process should involve full consultation with faculty and students about the performance of the incumbent. The fact that neither the Board nor the President saw the need for any such consultation raises questions about the commitment of both to joint faculty-administration governance of the university .
We the undersigned faculty call upon NYU’s Board of Trustees to negate the Lipton letter and set up a process to decide on the president’s re-appointment in which faculty are consulted both on who NYU’s president ought to be and the length of the presidential term. We also urge that students and staff be included in this process so that the entire university community can participate. Such an inclusive process would accord NYU’s president greater legitimacy as a university leader since it would make the president the choice of its large community rather than merely the NYU Trustees
1 Nicholas Mirzoeff Professor, Media, Culture, &
Communication Steinhardt
2 Andrew Ross Professor, Social and Cultural
Analysis FAS
3 Robert Cohen Professor & Chair, Teaching &
Learning Steinhardt
4 Marita Sturken Professor & Chair, Media,
Culture, & Communication Steinhardt
5 Nancy F Regalado Professor, French
FAS
6 Haruko Momma Associate Professor, English
FAS
7 Dana Polan Professor, Cinema Studies
TSOA
8 Randy Martin Professor & Chair, Art and
Public Policy, TSOA
9 Nikhil Singh Associate
Professor, Social & Cultural Analysis FAS
10 Christine Harrington Professor, Politics,
FAS
11 Suzanne G Cusick Professor, Music
FAS
12 John Victor Singler Professor , Linguistics
FAS
13 Stephen Duncombe Associate Professor
Gallatin
14 James Uleman Professor, Psychology
FAS
15 Robert McChesney Professor Emeritus, History
FAS
16 Patricia Crain Associate Professor, English
FAS
17 Rebecca Karl Associate Professor, East Asian
Studies FAS
18 Barbara Browning Associate Professor , Performance
Studies TSOA
19 Diana Turk Associate Professor,
Social Studies Steinhardt
20 Jeff Goodwin Professor , Sociology
FAS
21 Sylvia Molloy Professor, Spanish and
Portuguese FAS
22 Julian Everett Allgood Serials Librarian
University Division of Libraries
23 Brett Gary Associate Professor, Media
Culture & Communication Steinhardt
24 Carolyn Dinshaw Professor, English &
SCA FAS
25 Martin Harries Professor , English
FAS
26 Lala Straussner Professor,
Silver School of Social Work
27 Ann Pellegrini Associate Professor
FAS &TSOA
28 Mary Nolan Professor, History
FAS
29 Judith Stacey Professor, Sociology
FAS
30 Lisa Duggan Professor, Gender & Sexuality
Studies, SCA FAS
31 Anna McCarthy Associate Professor, Cinema
Studies TSOA
32 Mark Crispin Miller Professor, Media, Culture,
& Communication Steinhardt
33 Bertell Ollman Professor, Politics
FAS
34 Rodolfo Aiello Sr. language lecturer
FAS
35 Susie Linfield Associate Professor,
Journalism FAS
36 Moss Roberts Professor, East Asian Studies
FAS
37 Sally Guttmacher Professor, Nutrition, Food Studies
& Public Health Steinhardt
38 John Maynard Professor, English
FAS
39 Marilyn Young Professor, History
FAS
40 Tavia Nyong’ o Associate Professor, Performance
Studies TSOA
41 Herrick Chapman Associate Professor, History
FAS
42 Ada Ferrer Associate Professor, History
FAS
43 Martha Hodes Professor, History
FAS
44 Angela Zito, Associate Professor,
Anthropology & Relig. Studies FAS
45 Richard Sieburth Professor, French & Comparative
Literature FAS
46 Miriam Frank Master Teacher, Liberal Studies
FAS
47 Greg Grandin, Professor, History
FAS
48 Thomas Abercrombie Associate Professor, Anthropology
FAS
49 Phillip Brian Harper Professor, Social & Cultural
Analysis, Chair, English FAS
50 Martin Simon, Professor, Math Education,
Teaching & Learning Stieinhardt
51 Marta Peixoto, Associate Professor, Spanish and
Portugese FAS
52 Guenther Stotzky, Professor Emeritus, Biology
FAS
53 Linda Gordon, Professor, History
FAS
54 Neil Brenner, Professor, Sociology &
Metropolitan Studies FAS
55 William Serrin, Associate Professor, Journalism
FAS
56 Jo Ellen Fisherkeller Associate Professor, Media ,
Culture, & Communication Steinhardt
57 Emily Martin, Professor, Anthropology
FAS
58 Manu Goswami Associate Professor, History
FAS
59 Jeffrery L. Spear Associate Professor, English
FAS
60 Robert Hinton Associate Professor, Africana
Studies, SCA FAS
61 Faye Ginsburg Professor, Anthropology
FAS
62 Daniel Walkowitz, Professor, History & SCA
FAS
63 Zachary Lockman, Professor, Middle Eastern &
Islamic Studies FAS
64 Assia Djebar, Silver Professor, French &
Francophone Studies FAS
65 Ernest Gilman, Professor, English
FAS
66 Mary Lousie Pratt, Professor, SCA, Spanish &
Portugese FAS
67 Dennis Donoghue, University Professor, English
FAS
68 Patrick H. Deer Associate Professor, English
FAS
69 Lisa Gitelman Associate Professor, Culture &
Communications Steinhardt
70 Karen Shimakawa Associate Professor, Performance
Studies TSOA
71 Kristin Ross Professor, Comparative
Literature FAS
72 John Archer Professor, English
FAS
73 Jennifer Morgan Professor, History &SCA
FAS
74 Allen Mincer Professor, Physics
FAS
75 Diana Taylor Professor, Performance
Studies TSOA
76 Mark Alter Professor, Teaching &
Learning Steinhardt
77 Barbara Weinstein, Professor, History
FAS
78 Eugene Nicole, Professor, French,
FAS
79 Amy Bentley Associate Professor
Nutrition, Food Studies, Public Health Steinhardt
80 Andrew Lee Associate Curator
Libraries
81 Lawrence Wu Professor, Sociology
FAS
82 Marion Nestle, Goddard Professor, Nutrition,
Food Studies, & Public Health Steinhardt
83 Juan Corradi, Professor, Sociology
