Academic freedom could be under attack at the University of Texas at El Paso, according to some professors in the College of Engineering, and their boss is challenging UTEP leaders to clarify the uncertainties that he says is roiling his department.
Jack Chessa, chair of the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, sent a letter to Kenith Meissner II, the college’s dean, on July 29 asking for clarity on the accessibility of labs, equipment and other resources tied to research to include those at UTEP’s Aerospace Center.
The department’s faculty members shared their concerns with Chessa about changes that had started after the university relieved the center’s former Associate Vice President Ahsan Chouduri. The professors told Chessa that the new rules could affect the progress of their research that involved millions of dollars in grants, he told El Paso Matters.
Chessa said there was no specific situation where administrators affected researchers doing their jobs, but there was a concern that things could change if there are no written guarantees. He sent the memo to Meissner, which covered basic points to support his faculty.
“It was a pre-emptive (strike),” Chessa said. “It was a ‘don’t cross this line.’ It’s what I needed to do.”
Meissner did not respond to an El Paso Matters request for comment about the memo. He responded to Chessa in an Aug. 2 memo that stated he needed to adhere to rules from the University and the University of Texas System. Chessa responded that same day with a specific request for which rules. He had not received a response to that request as of Thursday afternoon.
Chessa said that there is a lack of substantive communication with the center’s leadership. On June 20, UTEP announced that Shery Welsh would become the center’s new executive director effective July 15. According to a university press release, Welsh had 37 years of federal service to include numerous leadership positions with the Air Force and with the Missile Defense Agency.
The Aerospace Center generated positive headlines this past January as the lead collaborator of a National Science Foundation grant that could have meant up to $160 million for the region during the next 10 years.
In late April, the NSF announced that it had suspended the grant due to possible incorrect statements in the UTEP-led proposal. Before the NSF completed its investigation, the university relieved Choudhuri of his leadership role in the Aerospace Center. He remains a faculty member in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.
Along with the concerns about labs and equipment, the department chair said the process of removing Choudhuri and hiring Welsh has lowered the level of trust his faculty have in the college and the university. He said the hiring was done with no input from faculty involved in the center.
Chessa, who started at UTEP in 2003, said that is how the university conducts business these days. He added that it was not what the university said about access to infrastructure, but what it did not say. He said the lack of clarity and transparency has eroded trust of the college and university leaders.
The department chair said the faculty want more than verbal assurances from the dean that there will be no changes. They want concrete guarantees that they will be able to maintain control of their research infrastructure.
He said that if Meissner did not provide satisfactory responses, he would take the issue to the Faculty Senate, the primary source for university instructors to provide input and debate issues.
UTEP faculty as a whole shared concerns about aspects of university employment in a 2023 Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education survey by the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.
Almost 60% of eligible faculty participated in the survey. The results included unhappiness with facilities and resources, lack of support for research and the quality of leadership, according to a summary provided to faculty and staff. However, faculty agreed that one of the best aspects of working at UTEP was academic freedom.
UTEP has not made public the full report from the faculty survey, despite a ruling from the Texas Attorney General’s Office on June 5 that it was public record and had to be provided to El Paso Matters under the Texas Public Information Act.
Chessa forwarded the Meissner memo to other campus leaders including Welsh, Provost John Wiebe, Vice President for Research and Innovation Ahmad Itani, and the incoming and outgoing presidents of the Faculty Senate. El Paso Matters reached out to them for a comment.
The only person to respond was Andrew Fleck, associate professor of English, whose term as president of the Faculty Senate ended recently. He said that the memo involved a lot of between-the-lines background that he did not fully understand, but he disagreed with the general premise.
“I’ve always found the university leadership to be good and trusted partners in the work we do,” Fleck said in an email response. “I haven’t felt any constraints on my academic freedom.”
Two senior faculty members in the College of Engineering said they were familiar with Chessa’s memo, and agreed with it. The professors requested that they not be identified for fear of retaliation.
They believe that part of the problem is that some of the UTEP’s leaders lack experience at an academic institution, especially one that enrolls the vast majority of Hispanic students.
UTEP President Heather Wilson briefly served as leader of South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, and has had leadership roles in the private sector, but most of her professional life has been in the political arena. She was secretary of the U.S. Air Force in the Trump administration and a congresswoman who represented New Mexico.
Professor One said UTEP’s current path hinders the faculty’s ability to operate freely and is damaging productivity. The person said the university is in a “serious crisis” because some of its leaders lack the necessary experience to lead an academic institution,
“We talk about our growth into an R1 (research 1) institution, and I’ve experienced much of that,” Professor One said. “I think that our status as an R1 institution is in jeopardy. I do not see a path to continued success mainly because the administration continues to bring in people without experience in these areas.”
Students in UTEP’s aerospace engineering programs use the Fabens Airport as a classroom. (Photo courtesy University of Texas at El Paso)
The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education awards the R1 designation to institutions based on research expenditures, and the numbers of doctorates awarded. The benchmarks for 2025 will be spending $50 million in research and awarding at least 70 doctorates per year.
UTEP earned its R1 designation in 2018. In March 2023, it had more than $130.5 million in annual research expenditures and awarded 143 doctoral degrees during the 2022-23 academic year.
Professor Two called the Chessa memo a cry for help, and proof of the deterioration of trust in university administration and shared governance. The professor said drastic decisions were made, such as the hiring of Welsh, without consulting faculty who were integrally involved in the development of the Aerospace Center.
“You have to consult with the faculty and learn what their concerns are,” Professor Two said. “You cannot make unilateral decisions without input from senior faculty members and expect to retain their trust. Right now, the trust (between faculty and administration) is severely broken. Their morale is destroyed.”
The post Citing broken trust, UTEP engineering leader sends ‘don’t cross this line’ warning to administration appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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