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1) My speech at last night's board meeting about the suppression of civil liberties at Collin College (a thread):
2) My name is Dr. Michael Phillips. I teach history at the Plano campus and I am a proud member of the Texas Faculty Association. I have taught here since 2007. Faculty members trust me and confide in me and this is what they increasingly tell me.
3) Faculty believe this administration does not have their backs.
More and more, the faculty censor the content of their lectures for fear that controversial but important classroom topics could get them in trouble.
More and more, the faculty censor the content of their lectures for fear that controversial but important classroom topics could get them in trouble.
4) They tell me that they feel powerless to speak up when the administration implements policies that they believe harm our work lives and the education of our students.
5) They felt compelled to stay silent even though they felt ignored, disrespected, and insulted when this administration announced, unlike many peer institutions, a Covid-19 reopening plan without any genuine attempt to seek input from the faculty.
6) The plan left faculty scared about their health and safety, that of their families, and that of the larger community. Professor Audra Heaslip attempted in good faith to open a dialogue on the issue with the administration . . .
7) . . . a dialog that the administration itself had failed to initiate. The open letter she produced was respectful, calm, and data-driven.
8) The letter was not the product of a small group of malcontents. About 130 faculty members signed the document, a substantial portion of the faculty.
9) . I know personally many more would have signed it but they believed such an act would cost them their jobs. What is remarkable about the document is how many signatories stated that they feared retaliation could result from simply voicing their concerns.
10) For merely communicating their worries about Covid to the administration, Professor Heaslip and Professor Suzanne Jones, two excellent professors who enlighten and inspire their students, have been fired, effective the end of this semester.
11) This has only confirmed for the faculty their worst suspicions.
12) I know board members can’t talk about personnel matters. But you can publicly discuss this: What does this sequence of events say about the type of college we’ve become . . .
13) . . . an institution built on suspicion and distrust, and where speaking candidly but professionally about a matter of life-and-death consequences can lead to unemployment?
14) The board can address the toxic climate at our college, how we arrived at this point, and how we can fix it. The board can take a lead on repairing the damage.
15) Firing my colleagues will fix nothing. But it will cause irreparable harm. The board, I hope, will do the right thing.
