Carolinian

Issue date: 2/7/06 Section: Campus News

Media Credit: LOGAN YORK/THE CAROLINIAN The recently resigned UNCG Professor of Sociology, Dr. Aquiel Ahmad, who was not granted tenure after 10 years of teaching.

On Monday, Jan. 9, 2006, many sociology students were alarmed to find that one of their popular professors, Dr. Aquiel Ahmad, was to be no longer teaching their classes. While his resignation from UNCG may have been sudden to a majority of his students, his choice to leave was made through a process that has taken nearly two years.

After serving 10 years as a faculty member in the Sociology Department at UNCG, Dr. Ahmad feels as if he was unfairly pushed to his departure. According to Dr. Ahmad, he was denied tenure and promotion from the university.

To be granted tenure is considered one of the highest forms of recognition as a teacher and researcher and ensures that a professor will keep his or her position unless dismissed for reasons of incompetence, gross misconduct, or financial necessity. In order to receive this, a professor is put on a seven-year tenure track line. By the end of the fifth year, it is up to the academic department to make a recommendation to the university's Tenure and Promotion (T&P) Committee whether to grant the professor tenure or not.

While there is no guarantee that any professor will be granted this accreditation, Dr. Ahmad claims that his declination was not within sufficient reason. With the university's declination Dr. Ahmad stated,

"They suggested instead that, should I choose to accept, I could be regulated to the non-tenured position for an indefinite period. That would mean no job security, a 30-35 percent cut in my existing salary, and above all, a total loss of face."

Dr. Ahmad went on to say,

"Their denial of tenure/promotion to me was based on the supposition that the sum total of my service to the department and the university, my research, teaching, and community service, was insufficient to honor me with tenure and promotion, despite the fact that it was deemed more than sufficient by four distinguished reviewers from outside, five distinguished ex-colleagues, and six ex students of mine who wrote in support of my candidacy."

In a petition to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences about the decision made by the T&P committee, he states that the Head of the Sociology Department, Dr. Kroll-Smith informed Dr. Ahmad of the reasons for his denial:

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