AAUP censures Nunez CC for firing professor who refused to fabricate assessment data

According to IHE, Nunez Community College in Lousiana, which we reported on earlier (here and here), has been sanctioned for terminating a professor with 22 years of service.  He was fired because he protested when the college used his name on an assessment report that he felt had fabricated data in it.  He contacted SACS at the time and their response was that they did not have enough evidence to act.

 

From IHE:

Nunez Community College in Louisiana found its way onto AAUP’s censure list for terminating an associate professor of English who had served the institution for 22 years — over the phone. Nunez doesn’t have tenure, but AAUP maintains that professors are entitled to tenure-like due process protections based on length of service.

Nunez previously declined to comment on the specific circumstances of the case and did not respond to a request for comment about the vote. The professor says he was terminated because he refused to fabricate data on student learning outcomes for accreditation purposes. Nunez said previously that it ensures all faculty members’ academic freedom.

If there are still any questions as to whether accreditors take seriously the integrity part of their work, this seems like an answer.  The accreditors value mindless compliance and form filling first (data quality be damned) and integrity is a distant afterthought.