The following letter was shared and drafted by Professor Scott MacDonald. MacDonald sent the sign-on letter to those named below on Sunday, July 16th via email. For the purposes of this post, it has been edited only for formatting and given a title.
To President Wippman, Dean of Faculty Munemo, Associate Vice President Goodale, Associate Deans Hall, and Yee; Dean of Students and Vice President Card, Associate Vice President Landry and Associate Deans Hill, Genao-Homs, Solomon, and Van Wynsberghe:
The sudden dismissal of our colleague, Jeff McArn, came as more than a surprise to those of us on the Hamilton faculty who know and have worked with him. It was a shock.
Though he has usually been identified as the College Chaplain, and has served in that role for decades with consummate success, we also treasure him as a collaborator and a major asset to the college’s academic mission. He has taught students, assisted us in teaching ours, and has become among the most admired and beloved contributors to the academic lives and work of both students and faculty.
As I begin this letter, the Faculty Discussion Listserv is awash with faculty across the college stunned by Jeff’s dismissal, singing his praises and providing detailed information about the many ways in which he has contributed to our work. We are happy to make our experiences with Jeff available.
We can only assume that the Dean of Students Office simply was not clear on how important Jeff McArn is to both the spiritual and academic life of the college (and apparently didn’t check to see if he was working with faculty members over the summer—he was).
We are united in our hope that this sudden dismissal, apparently unprovoked by anything Jeff has done, can be reversed, and that he can immediately be invited back to campus, to continue to devote his efforts to supporting our students in the many ways that they/we have come to expect and to continue to be the crucial academic resource he has always been for the Hamilton faculty and the College as a whole.
[I did not think to ask those who signed this letter to identify their positions at Hamilton, but I assume it will be clear that the list includes many department and program chairs as well as professors from all ranks.]
Scott MacDonald
Co-signed by Hamilton Faculty:
Professor Vivyan Adair
Abhishek Amar
Douglas Ambrose
Frank Anechiarico
Stephanie Bahr
Mark Bailey
Scott Barnard
Catherine Beck
Vikranth Bejjanki
Ivan Bochkov
Jen Borton
Chuck Borton
Charlotte Botha
Debra Boutin, Samuel F. Pratt Professor of Mathematics Chair, Mathematics and Statistics
Department
Clark M. R. Bowman
James Bradfield
Kate Brown
Heather Buchman
Jessica Burke
Jess Buttery
Alan Cafruny
Peter F. Cannavò
Ryan Carter
Jason Cieply
Justin Clark
Associate Professor Mark Cryer-Chair Theatre
Rhea Datta
Celeste Day Moore
Erica De Bruin
Katheryn Doran
Rebecca Dyer
John Eldevik
Stephen Ellingson
Shelley P Haley (Edward North Chair of Classics Emerita)
Kelly Faig
Anne Feltovich
David A. Gapp
Margaret Gentry
Chris Georges
Barbara Gold, Edward North Professor of Classics EmeritaChristian Goodwillie
Tristan Gordon
Ashley Gorham
Matt Grace
Kevin Grant
Peter Guiden
Naomi Guttman
Martine Guyot-Bender
Lydia Hamessley
Emily K. Harrison
Thomas Helmuth
Viva Rose Horowitz
Stephenson Humphries-Brooks
Sarah Jacobs
Marianne Janack
Susan Jarosi
Jessie Jia
Miriam Kamil
Masaaki Kamiya
Man Kaplan, Women’s and Gender Studies
Shoshana Keller
Robin Kinnel, emeritus
Philip Klinkner
Robert Knight, Associate Professor of Art
Amy Koenig
Lauralyn Kolb
Mireille Koukjian
Heather Kropp
Jaime L Kucinskas
Katharine Kuharic
Chinthaka Kuruwita
Chaise LaDousa
Adam Lark
Doran Larson
Craig Latrell
Hannah Lau
Michelle LeMasurier
James Lister
Alma Lowry
Scott MacDonald
Max Majireck
Seth Major
Russell Marcus
Rob Martin
Mike McCormick
John C McEnroe (emeritus)
Tara McKee
Heather Merrill
Cheryl Morgan
Ashley Morse
Rebecca Murtaugh
Joseph Mwantuali
Onno Oerlemans
Margo Okazawa-Rey, Senior Lecturer
Kyoko Omori
Steve Orvis
Alexandra Plakias, Philosophy
Jeff Pliskin
Deborah Pokinski
Colin Quinn
Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz, Professor of Comparative Literature Emerita
Carl Rabino
Peter J. Rabinowitz (emeritus)
Heidi M Ravven
Sharon Werning Rivera
Edna Rodriguez Plate
S Brent Rodriguez-Plate
Ian Rosenstein
Seth Schermerhorn
Franziska Schweiger
Franklin Sciacca
Evie Skoy
Jane Springer
Julie Starr
Mariah Stember
Darren Strash
Aaron Strong
Pavitra Sundar
Nick Tackes
Katherine H Terrell
Laura Tillery
Tina Toglia
Lisa Trivedi
Bonnie Urciuoli
Anne Valente
Bruce Walczyk, Professor Dance & Movement Studies
Chenyu Wang
Zhuoyi Wang
Jesse Weiner
Nigel Westmaas
Rachel White
Benjamin Widiss
Kim Wieczorek
Keelah Williams
Thomas Wilson
Doc Mike Woods
Stephen Wu
Steven Yao, LeFevre Professor of English
Wei Zhan
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