The Hofstra
HEMPSTEAD, NY Volume 83 Issue 17
Chronicle
Tuesday
April 10, 2018
Keeping the hofstra community informed since 1935
Tenured Zarb professors driven to resign Former faculty say cronyism, policy breaches led to their departures
By Katie Krahulik NEW S E D I TO R
A high turnover rate in the Accounting, Taxation and Legal Studies in Business Department has been linked to an atmosphere of bullying, cronyism and disregard for faculty policy. Since the spring of 2015, seven full-time faculty members that make up one of the largest departments in the Frank G. Zarb School of Business no longer work at Hofstra. Administrators within the school were accused of repeatedly breaching the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), circumventing checks and balances at the university. Included in these departures are former tenured professors Dr. Daniel P. Tinkelman and Dr. Mohamed Gomaa, who alleged bullying tactics and policy violations on the part of department administrators and by Dr. Herman Berliner, dean of the Zarb school. This activity was made possible, they say, by cronyism that leads all the way up to Dean Berliner. Although the violations were brought to the attention of Provost Gail Simmons and President Stuart Rabinowitz, they were never addressed. Tinkelman was appointed to be department chair during the summer of 2015, upon Berliner’s accession to deanship following the sudden retirement of former Dean Patrick Socci. When The Chronicle covered his departure in 2015, Socci could not be reached for comment on why he left. Berliner had appointed his long-time friend Ralph Polimeni to head a committee to smooth over weak links in a proposed faculty classification document in order to meet new standards
Photos courtesy of hofstra.edu
of The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Tinkelman said his criticism of the proposed policy produced by Polimeni’s committee ultimately led to his removal as chair. “Dean Berliner, in the presence of Dean [Elizabeth] Venuti, told me that my comments at a chair’s meeting, calling for the collection of data to substantiate the recommendations of his committee’s report, had caused a lot of trouble, and that was a factor in why he thought I was not working out as chair,” Tinkelman said. In the fall of 2015, according to five current and former faculty members, Berliner said that because of Tinkelman’s interjec-
tions, the senior faculty had lost faith in him. In a meeting with Berliner and Senior Associate Dean Venuti, “I was told that it would be best if my resignation was ‘for personal reasons,’” Tinkelman said. He initially agreed to resign, but later tried to remain in the position. When the semester ended in December, Tinkelman said Berliner offered him an ultimatum. He told the chair that resignation from the position was in his best interest; otherwise he would be removed under “good cause.” Tinkelman eventually protested his removal and sought legal counsel to clear his reputation and dismiss Berliner’s petition for his removal on the grounds that it did not adequately follow the CBA and Faculty Policy
Series (FPS). Under FPS 13 and Article 23.4 of the CBA, the removal of a chair is warranted by either a two-thirds vote of the total faculty in a department or if “the dean requests such removal, which petition or request shall state good cause.” In an email, Berliner called for a department meeting to discuss the chair’s removal. Berliner wrote, “Based on comments and issues brought to me by the faculty and my own observations, the chair has lost the confidence of the dean and the department and I am accordingly recommending removal.” Tinkelman’s attorney argued that Berliner’s notice failed to provide good cause. The meeting was held at
9 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 17. There are no minutes of the meeting, but five current and former faculty members described it. At the meeting, a number of faculty members presented their complaints about Tinkelman. Among them were that he was rude, he had poor interpersonal skills and that he criticized Polimeni’s report. With no formal charges to refute, Tinkelman said he worried that the vague nature of these complaints would leave a blemish on his record if he were to remain chair. After it was made clear at the meeting that there were no actual charges against him, Tinkelman indicated that he felt his reputation was intact, and that he would resign. Associate professor Victor Lopez was subsequently appointed interim chair. In an email later sent to President Stuart Rabinowitz and Provost Gail Simmons on Aug. 17, 2016, Tinkelman laid out what he considered the mishandling of his removal, crediting the efforts to push him out to a “small clique of faculty.” “They are a minority of the 20 full-time faculty, but their positions in the departmental personnel committee, connections to the union, willingness to file grievances, the gratitude of some other faculty to Ralph, and Ralph’s long friendship with Herman Berliner have given them influence,” Tinkelman wrote in his email. Ties within the administration of this department reflect a potential for favoritism. The current chair of the department, Dr. Jacqueline Burke, was a Continued on A2
Inside this Issue: “Take Back the Night” recap on A3