Professor’s resignation hurts faculty diversity

By Amanda Schapel
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
[email protected]

A formerly-tenured professor who left UCLA in disgust said she
is upset at what she calls the administration’s refusal to
make her a retention offer and the reasons for its decision.

Pauline Agbayani-Siewert, a former professor in the School of
Public Policy and Social Research, was the only tenured Pilipina
professor at UCLA. Her resignation sparked a protest earlier this
month. She will begin teaching courses at California State
University, Los Angeles in the fall.

Agbayani-Siewert said she was given “extremely
hurtful” justifications for the lack of a retention offer,
which were her questionable merit and that CSULA is not competitive
with UCLA.

“I was so insulted by the perception of the administration
that I felt I had no choice but to leave,” Agbayani-Siewert
said.

The administration has not discussed the specifics of
Agbayani-Siewert’s departure, only saying they are sorry to
see her go and that the final decision to leave was hers, not
UCLA’s.

But Agbayani-Siewert and her student supporters blame SPPSR Dean
Barbara Nelson and Associate Dean Fernando Torres-Gil for not
retaining the professor. Neither Nelson nor Torres-Gil could be
reached for comment last week.

When faculty members receive offers from other schools, they
usually inform the heads of their departments, but the deans of
their schools decide whether a retention package will be offered,
said Donna Vredevoe, vice chancellor for academic affairs, who
would be interviewed only under the condition she would not be
asked about Agbayani-Siewert’s specific case.

The dean must consider whether the faculty member is tempted to
leave, and what it will take to keep him or her around, Vredevoe
said. Retention packages can take several forms, including more
time allotted for research, additional equipment, a salary
increase, or a university loan, she added.

“UCLA definitely wants to retain its top faculty,”
Vredevoe said, but making a retention offer is not always possible.
Deans must determine how competitive the offer is and where their
limited resources are best put to use, she added.

If a faculty member has recently been evaluated for a promotion
or raise, they will be less likely to receive a retention offer,
Vredevoe said.

When Agbayani-Siewert received a formal offer from CSULA in
June, she informed the heads of her two departments, Asian American
studies, and social welfare. She expected a “symbolic
gesture” of support from SPPSR, like a small raise in pay or
more time for research, she said.

Agbayani-Siewert added that she chose to accept the position at
CSULA once she realized through a discussion with Torres-Gil a
retention offer would not be made.

“I had to leave,” Agbayani-Siewert said.

Agbayani-Siewert’s resignation comes at a time when UCLA
has been lagging to maintain faculty diversity. According to a
report by the Gender Equity Committee in 2001, women accounted for
roughly only 25 percent of tenured faculty positions at UCLA.
Furthermore, Agbayani-Siewert is the third professor of color to
recently leave SPSSR for CSULA.

For Mitchell Maki, a former associate professor in the
department of social welfare, the choice to leave was because of a
“tremendous professional opportunity” at CSULA. Maki is
now the acting dean of the College of Health and Human Services at
CSULA.

Though their reasons for leaving vary, the end result is an
increasingly less diverse faculty.