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M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is taking steps to increase shared governance and due process following its June censure by the American Association of University Professors. U.S. Navy Admiral William McRaven, retired, the University of Texas System’s new chancellor, directed the center to establish a shared governance committee to serve as an advisory body to President Ronald DePinho as he establishes a more “democratic” system of governance, The Cancer Letter reported. In a letter to DePinho, McRaven asked the president to address long-standing concerns about due process in the center’s “term tenure” system, which were at the heart of the AAUP censure in June. (Many critics also maintain that M. D. Anderson’s seven-year, renewable tenure policy is not tenure at all.)
DePinho and Gary Whitman, professor of radiology and radiation oncology and chair of the Faculty Senate, announced the formation of the committee to faculty members last week. Michael DeCesare, a professor of sociology at Merrimack College and chair of AAUP’s Committee on College and University Governance, wrote in a post on AAUP’s “Academe” blog, “Hopefully, the administration’s moves toward improving academic due process and instituting a shared governance model indicate that it is actively working toward getting itself removed from the AAUP censure list.”
