When Is a Suspension Not a Suspension?

by E Wayne Ross on November 2, 2009

Inside Higher Ed: When Is a Suspension Not a Suspension?

Officials at Southwestern College, a community college outside San Diego, moved Friday to explain why three faculty members have been barred from teaching or stepping foot on the campus for more than a week, but the answers aren’t quelling faculty anger.

The college has been facing scrutiny over its action against four professors (one of whom was soon permitted to resume teaching) the day after a student-organized campus protest against budget cuts, and about how the administration has responded to them. While the college didn’t explain why it barred the professors — including the president of the faculty union — from the campus, officials denied that the move had anything to do with the protest.