James McGarrah, assistant professor of English, received a two-sentence letter April 20 telling him that, after Commencement Day, he will no longer teach at USI because his three-year renewable contract will not be renewed. No reason was given.
Sherrianne Standley, vice president for advancement, said only one multi-year contract was not renewed this year.
"I'm almost 60 years old," said McGarrah, who has been teaching at the university for six years. "It's going to be incredibly difficult to find a job."
Provost Linda Bennett, who supervises faculty, refused to comment Tuesday on any situation regarding McGarrah.
David Glassman, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, also refused to comment.
Michael Kearns, chair of the English department, said he is not allowed to comment.
USI faculty who are not in a tenure-track position work on renewable contracts ranging from nine or 10 months to one or more years. McGarrah's contract was for three years. It was renewed in 2004 for another three years.
The university can terminate anyone's contract "with or without notice and with or without cause," according to the faculty handbook.
The handbook also states: "Regular non-tenure track faculty hired on one, two and three year rolling appointments … are eligible to receive, but not entitled to expect, renewal of appointments."
McGarrah said, "I believe the reason my contract was not renewed - if they had a reason not to renew it - would have had to have been greatly exaggerated and part of another agenda - probably political - that I am not aware of."
After the news began to spread about McGarrah's contract, senior Brittney Scott, managing editor of The Aerie, started a petition signed by people who say McGarrah's contract should be renewed.
Those who have signed the petition include Dr. Susanna Hoeness-Krupsaw and Matthew Graham, both associate professors of English, Dr. Michael Kearns, professor of English and chair of the English department, and numerous students.
"Almost everyone is saying that Jim is irreplaceable to the creative writing department and the university," Scott said. "Tons of people are saying that he has changed their lives."
In an e-mail to the English department, Graham said, "Jim is an excellent teacher and writer who is well loved by many, many students…This, for me, is both a personal and professional tragedy."
A Facebook group has also been started called "Students Against Firing Jim." The group signed up 72 members in one day. The group creator does clarify that McGarrah was not fired, but that his contract was not renewed.
Numerous students said they have written e-mails to Bennett about their experiences with McGarrah. Copies of the e-mails were sent to The Shield.
An e-mail from Krystal Krocker, a senior English major, said, if it had not been for McGarrah, "I would not have become an English major. In fact, if I had not taken his ENG 302 Creative Writing class my sophomore year, I probably would have dropped out of college."
An e-mail from Craig Fehrman, senior English major and this year's President's Medalist, said, "I've not taken a class with Professor McGarrah, but that hasn't stopped him from going out of his way to spend time cultivating my writing and critical thinking." Fehrman is the online editor of The Shield.
Candice Thomas, an alumna and last semester's fiction editor of The Aerie, also wrote to Bennett. "I learned more about how to approach creative writing in that one semester with Jim than in all of my other creative writing classes combined," Thomas said of an independent study she had with McGarrah.
On ratemyprofessor.com, a Web site where students can "grade" their professors, McGarrah received 41 out of 44 positive reactions. Only two out of 44 found McGarrah to be not helpful.
An annual administrative evaluation from 2006 said, "Jim McGarrah's service exceeds what we expect for a faculty member of his appointment and time in rank."
McGarrah's class evaluations for a Fall 2006 creative writing class averaged a 4.53 out of 5 in an overall course evaluation.
"I have had a lot of very, very upset students," McGarrah said regarding the non-renewal of his contract. "I really don't know what to tell them."
Some have speculated that McGarrah's contract was not renewed because of controversial photos published in last semester's edition of The Aerie, a student journal of art and letters. The photo was of two nude women posing together. McGarrah is faculty advisor of the publication.
"I think there were people in the administration who publicly say they agree with non-censorship, but privately have different ideas," McGarrah said. "Some people in upper levels of administration may have been upset with that and got the ball rolling on [the non-renewal of contract]."
McGarrah teaches creative writing, composition and two capstone courses: one on Vietnam, which is scheduled for the summer term, and another on the impact of the 1960s, which is scheduled for the fall. Both are full.
Since McGarrah's contract is up May 5, he will not be able to teach either classes.
Glassman said no one has been hired to replace McGarrah.
McGarrah is the poetry editor of the Southern Indiana Review, co-founder of the RopeWalk Press, co-director of the Ropewalk Reading Series and member of the Ropewalk Writers Retreat staff.
His memoir, A Temporary Sort of Peace, will be released in July and he will begin a book-signing tour Aug. 1.
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