To: Dr. Kenneth Yowell, Edison Board of Trustees

From:  English Dept.

Ref:  Steve Marlowe’s notice of nonrenewal

The Edison English department is writing this letter in response to your letter of nonrenewal to Steve Marlowe.  This action is illegal, unethical, unnecessary and shamefully vindictive.

Mr. Marlowe is a tenured employee with a continuing contract.  The termination is illegal and unethical according to the union contract, which the faculty assumed was negotiated in good faith.  In order to terminate Mr. Marlowe, your office must prove financial need.  You have not done that, and with three of our senior faculty retiring this spring, there is obviously money for faculty contracts.

The Board has already approved the hiring of new math faculty person.   There was no stipulation that another position, in another department, would have to be sacrificed in order to make this hire.  Within the last semester the Math and English departments have lost two full time faculty, and a part time position.  There certainly should be enough money to employ our current full time faculty, and despite the letters that were sent in April, you yourself have stated several times in public, “No one has been fired.” 

This termination was made without consulting anyone in the English department, or any interest in how this would affect our program.  Neither of the people to whom the letter of termination was copied is in a position to speak freely to the Board or to the President, or to defend our department.

This will leave the English Department egregiously understaffed.  The obvious solution is to hire more math faculty, not to limp into the future with our largest Gen Ed programs understaffed.  Steve Marlowe is a valued member of the English department and brings skills to our classroom that we cannot replace by simply hiring another round of barely qualified adjuncts.  He initiated the Honors Program, as well as the Dayton Literary Peace Prize (at your request), and he handles most of the innovative online work in our department. Our enrollment is up and our adjunct pool is dwindling, as adjuncts are lured away by other schools where there is better pay and less controversy.  The things that Edison does best—instruct in small classroom settings—and our very reputation is at stake.

The fact that this action comes now, in the middle of financial difficulties when the President’s actions and leadership are being questioned, suggests that this move was made to intimidate and to mislead, and not out of true need.  Because Mr. Marlowe has been outspoken about changes needed at Edison, we suspect that this decision is retaliatory.  These actions bring into question, once again, the President’s ability to lead our college.  Shame on you Dr. Yowell, and shame on our Board for letting this continue. We expect you to follow legally negotiated contracts and to reinstate Professor Marlowe.

English Department:  Dick Bollenbacher, Cathy Essinger, Jane Kretschmann, Eileen Thompson, Steve Marlowe.