It’s been described as bizarre and undemocratic by critics and as unorthodox even by supporters.

David Van Slyke’s appointment as dean of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs has served as a source of frustration for many within the school’s community in recent months. He was named the Maxwell dean in June after he had previously served as the chair of the dean search committee — a committee that was disbanded a week before he was named dean.

Those upset about the appointment say it has less to do with Van Slyke and his credentials, and more to do with the unusual process behind his hiring, which they say lacked both the consultation of faculty and clear communication about the terms of his appointment.

Through a spokeswoman, Van Slyke declined an interview for this story.

Faculty members’ frustration came to a culmination Friday in Eggers Hall, where many of them met in private with SU Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly.

Wheatly was unavailable for comment on this story until mid-October, a spokeswoman said.

A Daily Orange reporter was denied access to Friday’s meeting, but according to several people who were in attendance, faculty members voiced numerous concerns over the way SU appointed Van Slyke. The people who were in the meeting spoke on the condition of anonymity because the meeting was meant to be private.

In her original memorandum to the Maxwell community on June 3, Wheatly said she was suspending the search because she didn’t believe the search committee had found a candidate who could engender support and generate excitement among the school’s community as dean. That conclusion was based on her interactions with the search committee and members of the school’s community, she wrote.

But a number of Maxwell community members, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to fear of backlash, in recent interviews called into question the depth and scope of those interactions. Several high-ranking faculty members said they were never consulted prior to Van Slyke’s appointment, something that was brought up at Friday’s meeting.

Typically, faculty members said, such consultation wouldn’t be necessary or standard protocol for a dean’s appointment. But given that Van Slyke was an internal hire who has worked at Maxwell for 12 years, community members have questioned why their input wouldn’t be sought after.

During Friday’s meeting, according to people in attendance, Wheatly said she consulted about 20 Maxwell faculty members. Among those were members of the Maxwell Faculty Council and chairs of Maxwell’s departments.

But some who were consulted said that, in their conversations with Wheatly, Van Slyke was never mentioned.

“I did speak with the provost about the results of the dean’s search and next steps prior to Dave’s appointment,” said Robert Bifulco, a professor of public administration and international affairs and member of the Maxwell Faculty Council. “Dave’s name was never mentioned as a possible candidate in that discussion.”

Others, including multiple department chairs, said Van Slyke’s name was mentioned to them as a candidate, but that they were under the assumption he would be appointed to an interim position. Some added that they were only given a few hours to respond to an email asking if they objected to Van Slyke being appointed as interim dean.

In Wheatly’s memo to the Maxwell community suspending the search, she said she would next be communicating information about “interim leadership” of the school.

“I think it’s fair to say that the Chairs assumed this was an interim appointment,” said Michael Ebner, chair of the Maxwell history department, in an email.

Some faculty members, including Bifulco, said they believed it was the right move to hire a full-time dean because they thought it would be detrimental to the school to have an interim dean.

Wheatly said during Friday’s meeting that administrators believed naming an interim dean after a months-long search would have been a bad look for the university, according to people in attendance.

“I think it was very good to not leave us leaderless,” said Peter Castro, an associate professor of anthropology and member of the Maxwell Faculty Council. “So I think it was a good choice. I don’t think the institution has been hurt at all by this.”

But appointing a non-interim dean may have been possible without suspending the search committee. There was at least one finalist that several members of the search committee supported appointing, a member of the committee said during Friday’s meeting, according to people in attendance.

Other Maxwell faculty pointed to the oddity of Van Slyke seemingly being rewarded following the failure of the search committee he chaired. The unusual nature of the appointment is something even Van Slyke acknowledged in an email to Maxwell faculty members, said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, chair of the political science department.

But Boroujerdi added he was happy with the hire, and that he and several other faculty members advocated to Wheatly for an internal hire because they didn’t believe the school could afford its new dean to go through “the learning curve.”

“It was a very unorthodox appointment at the end of the day, surely,” Boroujerdi said. “But Dave is a good candidate for this thing.”

Published on September 29, 2016 at 12:18 am

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu