THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 8, 1995 TAG: 9506080412
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
The case, pitting three professors against Regent University, involves an alleged breach of contract. But in Circuit Court Wednesday, it seemed as if the institution of tenure was on trial.
Pat Robertson, the founder and chancellor of the university, testified that he would shut down the law school before instituting full-fledged tenure, which virtually guarantees lifelong employment.
``The board was adamantly opposed to it,'' he said. ``It had seen the damage this historic policy had done at institutions over the years.''
But Elaine S. Waller, a communications professor who is one of the plaintiffs, said Wednesday that she felt betrayed when Regent, in her view, moved away from tenure last year.
``For the first time in 15 1/2 years, I was told, `Your contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on,' '' testified Waller, one of the school's original faculty members. ``. . .My trust and confidence in the leadership and board of Regent University had been violated.''
The three professors - Waller, Clifford W. Kelly and Jeffrey C. Tuomala - contend in their suit that the Christian graduate school violated their contracts when it switched employment policies last year.
Under the old contracts, which the professors said provided job security, they could be fired only for ``breach of contract'' - for such abuses as ``insubordination'' and ``immoral behavior contrary to Biblical standards.''
The new contracts allow professors to be fired for ``actions that are inimical to the best interests of the university.'' Regent officials say faculty members are no less secure now, but all three refused to sign the new contracts and will leave the university next summer.
The Regent case reflects a debate mushrooming on campuses across the country: Does tenure help or hurt colleges?
Opponents say the practice has kept schools from policing senior faculty members for fear of lawsuits. As a result, they say, older professors are being allowed to slough off, and students aren't getting the best education.
``It is something that is anathema to good education in America,'' Robertson said in an interview after his testimony. ``In schools all across America, this is an excuse for professors not to perform their duties and get involved in all kinds of radical crusades.''
Robertson quickly added that he supports ``academic freedom.'' Supporters of tenure say that is precisely why it is needed: to allow professors to feel free to speak their views, radical or otherwise, without fear of dismissal.
That free exchange of ideas and viewpoints, whether Marxist or dyed-in-the-wool Republican, is the best way to get students thinking about issues, they say.
Waller also filed a complaint last year with the Norfolk office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging sexual harassment at the university.
Under the new system, Waller said, that complaint might be considered an action ``inimical'' to Regent, and she might be fired for it.
But Robertson noted in court that all three professors still work at Regent: ``I've said repeatedly that I do not believe in arbitrary dismissal by whim. . . . We don't put people on the streets arbitrarily and capriciously. We haven't, and we aren't going to.''
Two other professors, Paul J. Morken and Roger C. Bern, were part of the case. But Circuit Judge Edward W. Hanson Jr. last week removed them from the suit because they were fired last year and no longer work for Regent.
Morken, Bern and Tuomala, all law professors, had signed a complaint to the American Bar Association about the 1993 firing of law dean Herbert W. Titus. Robertson was not questioned about any of those dismissals Wednesday.
In the interview, Robertson said, ``You can go to any president of a university . . . and they'll hit the eject button'' when talking about tenure. ``Universities, by the dozens, are going away from it.''
No university in Virginia has abolished tenure recently. But several are moving to more closely scrutinize tenured professors. Old Dominion University last year began requiring annual evaluations of tenured professors, and the University of Virginia recently proposed starting annual evaluations of tenured faculty by committees of their peers.
At issue in the testimony Wednesday was whether Regent's original system was something like tenure. That is an important point for the professors, who are contending that the new system dramatically reduces their rights.
Waller testified that the word ``tenure'' wasn't used because Robertson's wife, Dede, a member of Regent's Board of Trustees, ``didn't like the word.'' But the idea was the same.
All three professors testified that they were led to assume that their ``rolling contracts'' would be continued indefinitely unless they were found to be incompetent.
``It always meant to me, and still does, an annual entitlement, every year, so long as I did not breach my contract,'' Tuomala said.
But Robertson and his wife testified that the school never had tenure. ``It was a contract,'' Dede Robertson said. ``It was not a guarantee of lifetime employment.'' ILLUSTRATION: AP color photos
Pat Robertson during court testimony on Wednesday.
Regent University professors Jeffrey C. Tuomala, left, Elaine S.
Waller and Clifford W. Kelly pray prior to Circuit Court testimony
in Virginia Beach on Wednesday. The three are suing the University
over a contract dispute over tenure.
KEYWORDS: REGENT UNIVERSITY LAWSUIT TENURE by CNB