Myanna Dellinger's Tenure Battle
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In 2015, I was teaching at Western State College of Law in Orange County, California. I was in my fourth year of teaching at Western State and fifth year of law teaching overall. I had been promoted to Associate Professor for the 2014-15 school year. That year, the University of South Dakota School of Law recruited me to join their faculty. I was offered a lateral transfer as an Associate Professor of Law. Under USD School of Law’s tenure rules, Associates Professors customarily apply for tenure in their third year as Associate Professors. It was agreed that I would also be eligible to apply in my third year as an Associate Professor at USD School of Law.
The 2017-18 academic year was my third year at USD. So, last fall, I applied for tenure. If approved, I would be just the second tenured female faculty member at the law school. Everyone at the law school agreed that I exceeded all of the standards for tenure. In under three years at USD, I had produced four major law review articles (bringing me to a total of 12), published 200 blog posts , attracted 700,000 listeners to my podcast series, and been awarded a Fulbright scholarship. I had excellent scholarship reviews from several external reviewers, and the tenure committee, made up of all the tenured full professors at the law school, unanimously recommended me for tenure. The Dean of the law school strongly endorsed the committee vote and highly recommended me for tenure. But the University’s Provost has refused to process my tenure application, speciously claiming that I am not eligible for tenure under the law school’s tenure rules even though the law dean and the law professors who wrote the rules say I am eligible, and despite the promises I was made when I took the job.
This is not the first time the University Administration has treated me unfairly. It started last year when the Provost tried to strip me of my Associate title and demote me to Assistant Professor a year after I joined the university. He gave no reason for this illegal action and I had to hire a lawyer at considerable cost to defend the title which I had earned and was contractually guaranteed. But the Provost was not deterred. This fall, I submitted a routine request to the Board of Regents to receive credit for my prior years of teaching. Although one-for-one credit is authorized, I requested only three years of credit for my five years of prior law teaching. The Dean of the Law School strongly endorsed my application. But the Provost and President refused to support my request, recommending me, without any explanation or justification, for only one year of credit. And they didn’t even bother to forward my entire application to the Board of Regents, conveniently omitting the entire justification section of my application and all of the supporting materials. After I filed a formal grievance about this, the President informed my lawyer that his decision had nothing to do with the merits of my application, but that he had a "personal philosophy" that one should serve a "sufficient" amount of time before obtaining what he considers to be a "lifetime appointment." Basically, he admitted recommending denial of my application specifically because he wanted to force me to serve two more years before I would be eligible for tenure.
The Provost and President expected me to just give up and go away. But I refused to back down. The Law School tenure rules permit “clearly worthy” candidates who meet all tenure standards to be considered early under exceptional circumstances. I requested that I be considered under this exception and the Law School faculty tenure committee and the Dean unanimously found that I was eligible and recommended that I be approved under this policy. When my tenure file landed on the Provost’s desk, his job was to forward it on to the President. Instead, he sat on it for three weeks, then sent it back to me with a one paragraph letter saying that I wasn’t eligible. (He even held on to it for two full weeks before having it delivered to my office late in the afternoon the Friday before spring break!).
Does the Provost have the authority to do that? No. Did that stop him? No. So, I sued him. With my attorney’s help, I am seeking a Declaratory Judgment under South Dakota law finding that I am eligible for tenure this year and ordering the Provost and President to continue to process my application.
Why are the Provost and President so opposed to me getting tenure? Could it be because I wrote a law review article that was critical of the practice of trophy hunting, which created a local firestorm in this staunchly pro-hunting state? Could it be because I made a presentation to the Academic Senate about the University’s arbitrary policies on prior service credit? Could it be because I am an “outsider”? - Or a female? Only they know the real reasons. But whatever their true motivations may be, both the Provost and the President have made it clear that they are opposed to my getting tenure this year. Since they know they don’t have any valid basis to deny me tenure on the merits, they have resorted to procedural mechanisms to try to block me.
As you can imagine, all these legal battles are not cheap. I have an excellent attorney. He’s donated dozens of hours of work on the case and is charging me a fraction of his usual rate. But between last year’s fight to keep my title and this year’s tenure fight, I have already spent over $10,000 just in attorney fees, and this fight is far from over. There are court filing fees, travel expenses and more attorney fees to come, and frankly, I can’t afford it. It doesn’t help that the University of South Dakota pays its law professors among the least in the nation.
I am asking you for a small donation to help me with all these costs. Even a little will help. Thank you very much.
Myanna Dellinger
The 2017-18 academic year was my third year at USD. So, last fall, I applied for tenure. If approved, I would be just the second tenured female faculty member at the law school. Everyone at the law school agreed that I exceeded all of the standards for tenure. In under three years at USD, I had produced four major law review articles (bringing me to a total of 12), published 200 blog posts , attracted 700,000 listeners to my podcast series, and been awarded a Fulbright scholarship. I had excellent scholarship reviews from several external reviewers, and the tenure committee, made up of all the tenured full professors at the law school, unanimously recommended me for tenure. The Dean of the law school strongly endorsed the committee vote and highly recommended me for tenure. But the University’s Provost has refused to process my tenure application, speciously claiming that I am not eligible for tenure under the law school’s tenure rules even though the law dean and the law professors who wrote the rules say I am eligible, and despite the promises I was made when I took the job.
This is not the first time the University Administration has treated me unfairly. It started last year when the Provost tried to strip me of my Associate title and demote me to Assistant Professor a year after I joined the university. He gave no reason for this illegal action and I had to hire a lawyer at considerable cost to defend the title which I had earned and was contractually guaranteed. But the Provost was not deterred. This fall, I submitted a routine request to the Board of Regents to receive credit for my prior years of teaching. Although one-for-one credit is authorized, I requested only three years of credit for my five years of prior law teaching. The Dean of the Law School strongly endorsed my application. But the Provost and President refused to support my request, recommending me, without any explanation or justification, for only one year of credit. And they didn’t even bother to forward my entire application to the Board of Regents, conveniently omitting the entire justification section of my application and all of the supporting materials. After I filed a formal grievance about this, the President informed my lawyer that his decision had nothing to do with the merits of my application, but that he had a "personal philosophy" that one should serve a "sufficient" amount of time before obtaining what he considers to be a "lifetime appointment." Basically, he admitted recommending denial of my application specifically because he wanted to force me to serve two more years before I would be eligible for tenure.
The Provost and President expected me to just give up and go away. But I refused to back down. The Law School tenure rules permit “clearly worthy” candidates who meet all tenure standards to be considered early under exceptional circumstances. I requested that I be considered under this exception and the Law School faculty tenure committee and the Dean unanimously found that I was eligible and recommended that I be approved under this policy. When my tenure file landed on the Provost’s desk, his job was to forward it on to the President. Instead, he sat on it for three weeks, then sent it back to me with a one paragraph letter saying that I wasn’t eligible. (He even held on to it for two full weeks before having it delivered to my office late in the afternoon the Friday before spring break!).
Does the Provost have the authority to do that? No. Did that stop him? No. So, I sued him. With my attorney’s help, I am seeking a Declaratory Judgment under South Dakota law finding that I am eligible for tenure this year and ordering the Provost and President to continue to process my application.
Why are the Provost and President so opposed to me getting tenure? Could it be because I wrote a law review article that was critical of the practice of trophy hunting, which created a local firestorm in this staunchly pro-hunting state? Could it be because I made a presentation to the Academic Senate about the University’s arbitrary policies on prior service credit? Could it be because I am an “outsider”? - Or a female? Only they know the real reasons. But whatever their true motivations may be, both the Provost and the President have made it clear that they are opposed to my getting tenure this year. Since they know they don’t have any valid basis to deny me tenure on the merits, they have resorted to procedural mechanisms to try to block me.
As you can imagine, all these legal battles are not cheap. I have an excellent attorney. He’s donated dozens of hours of work on the case and is charging me a fraction of his usual rate. But between last year’s fight to keep my title and this year’s tenure fight, I have already spent over $10,000 just in attorney fees, and this fight is far from over. There are court filing fees, travel expenses and more attorney fees to come, and frankly, I can’t afford it. It doesn’t help that the University of South Dakota pays its law professors among the least in the nation.
I am asking you for a small donation to help me with all these costs. Even a little will help. Thank you very much.
Myanna Dellinger
Organizer
Myanna Dellinger
Organizer
Vermillion, SD
