Two faculty members from Mount St. Mary's University in Maryland were fired while another one was demoted following an issue regarding the new president, President Simon Newman's student-retention program. Online petitions asking for the reinstatement of the fired professors were supported by faculty members from universities across the country.
The issue began after the university's student newspaper reported that the new president likened the students to bunnies that should be killed, during one of his private conversations with another faculty member.
According to Yahoo, President Newman defended the new retention program for students from another faculty opposing to it by saying that the students are not cuddly bunnies.
"This is hard for you because you think of the students as cuddly bunnies, but you can't. You just have to drown the bunnies ... put a Glock to their heads", Newman stated.
Newman confirmed that such statement came from him and eventually apologized for insensitive use of words. He added that such statements were addressed to assistant professor Gregory Murry as he was upset by efforts of other employees to derail the new student retention program.
Newman's actions were supported by the university's Board of Trustees as per Chairman John Coyle's statement in their website. On Friday, two faculty members were dismissed. Law professor Edward Egna and Philosophy associate professor Thane Naberhaus accused of disloyalty in a letter by Newman were dismissed from the university.
The dismissal of both professors followed the demotion of Provost David Rehm, although, he remained in his position in the faculty. As reported by Inside Higher Ed, Rehm also questioned the new University President's student-retention program.
Faculty members were also reluctant in talking to reporters, however, some anonymously stated that other faculty members are scared with the dismissal of their colleagues. "It's terrifying, and nobody is safe. It is shattering. It feels like the end of what so many of us have sacrificed for.", one faculty member said.
According to the Washington Post, a petition has begun for reinstatement of the professors who have been fired. A couple of hours after it was made, the petition reportedly got 2,400 digital signatures from members of the campus community.
Several professors from Stanford, North Carolina Central to the University of Nebraska, Harvard and many others took part in the petition. The Alumni also wrote letters to the university's Board of Trustees with some of them expressing their disappointment on the situation. Some students and members of the University went to social media as well to express their thoughts on the situation.
