This story has been updated to explain that the comments published on Brian Leiter’s blog were quotes from a letter written by New School for Social Research faculty.
Barred from entering his office. Prohibited from interacting with students except when teaching. Forced to participate in an anger-management program. Forbidden to attend faculty meetings.
These are a few of the sanctions NSSR political theorist Andrew Arato faces this semester.
The Free Press has obtained the document detailing the sanctions the university placed against the NSSR professor at the beginning of the fall 2018 term.
They stipulate that he cannot: enter his office at any time or university buildings unless he is teaching, interact with students, faculty, or administrators outside of teaching obligations, and attend department meetings or university events.
The sanctions will be enforced for the Fall 2018 semester, according to the sanction agreement signed by the Arato, who is the Dorothy Hart Hirshon Professor in Political and Social Theory at The New School for Social Research, at the start of this term.
“In the event that you [Andrew Arato] satisfactorily complete the terms of this informal resolution for the Fall 2018 semester, the University irrevocably agrees to take no further disciplinary action in relation to disciplinary complaint in relation to conduct occurring prior to and through the end of the Fall 2018 semester,” the document states.
Arato will not be “permitted to attend or participate in (including via face-to-face, telephone, or email) faculty meetings, [and/or] committee meetings at TNS facilities or primarily TNS-sponsored events involving NSSR faculty” for as long as he is employed by The New School, even after the other sanctions are lifted in Spring 2019, according to the agreement.
Referred to within the document as the “Sanction Statement,” the agreement was sent to Arato by deputy provost Bryna Sanger via email on Sept. 4, 2018. The document was sent as a memorandum to an Aug. 24 letter sent by Sanger that notified the professor that he was charged with “noncollegial, inappropriate and bullying behavior” against his colleagues.
The Free Press exclusively obtained the “Sanctions Statement” agreement and is publishing the document here.
[pdf-embedder url=”http://www.newschoolfreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/arato.pdf” title=”Andrew Arato Sanction”]
The New School evaluated 20 accusations against Arato made by faculty members concerning his alleged disruptive behavior in an April 2018 investigation, and charged the professor using four claims deemed most credible. Arato has been accused of acting insultingly and disrespectfully in meetings, harassing a colleague on the street about a university-related matter, and intervening into a separate Title IX case against a peer. Arato has denied the charges.
When asked to comment on the details of the agreement, the provost’s office responded with an statement sent via email by the University’s communications director, Amy Malsin:
“The New School is proud to be a place of impassioned debate, sophisticated academic inquiry and diverse, sometimes difficult discussions. While we can’t comment on confidential personnel matters, regardless of the instance or the issue, the university does not tolerate unprofessional conduct, including demeaning, intimidating or disrespectful behavior that unreasonably interferes with the ability of members of the university community to participate in educational or employment activities.”
This is the same statement given to Free Press and Chronicle of Higher Education in Oct.
“Professor Arato deeply regrets the sanctions’ negative impact on students, and is doing his best to mitigate it by, for example, arranging an off-campus meeting with them before the exam period. And he continues to search for other mitigating solutions,” Arato’s lawyer, Katherine Jackson, wrote in an email to the Free Press.
New School students and faculty, as well as scholars around the world, have taken interest in Arato’s situation, which has drawn controversy and scrutiny.
Aura Angelica Hernandez Cardenas, a second-year NSSR master’s student in sociology who is taking one class with Arato, told the Free Press that the situation at The New School reminded her of a “totalitarian state” and of a professor in her home country of Colombia who had been imprisoned for his political views.
“The professor in Colombia couldn’t share his knowledge, he couldn’t share with his students,” she said. He was prohibited by the state from being able to present his work publicly, according to Hernandez Cardenas. “If you disagree with one point of view, if you don’t agree with many different kinds of things that are happening at NSSR, you can be sanctioned. Your voice could be silenced. I think that’s a huge issue here. That’s the most important issue for me.”
Bahareh Ebne Alian, a Ph.D. candidate, and Arya Vaghayenegar, a second-year master’s student, told the Free Press that Arato advocates for students in faculty and department meetings, sometimes aggressively. Both students are advisees of Arato’s.
“If he is dangerous, why is he allowed to teach classes?” Hernandez Cardenas said. “Nobody knows what’s happening after this.”
On Sept. 11, an anonymous letter publicly supporting Arato was released by over 100 NSSR students and 24 faculty members, saying they are “disturbed by the secretive and discretionary manner in which these sanctions were decided” and demanding their removal.
The Chronicle described the university’s punishment as “unusual.” NSSR philosophy and politics professor Nancy Fraser told the Chronicle that Arato is “‘brilliant’ and ‘very articulate’ but added that she ‘wouldn’t defend all of his behavior.’” The conservative news network The Blaze reported on the Free Press’ previous coverage of the situation, and Arato’s sanctions were the subject of a recent episode of the sociology podcast Sociocast.
University of Chicago law professor Brian Leiter wrote on his blog about the situation, quoting a letter from NSSR faculty that described the sanctions as “a direct attack on the principles of faculty self-government and tenure” and stated that “[t]he actions taken against Andrew Arato are wrong in principle and set a dangerous and unacceptable precedent.”
Hernandez Cardenas told the Free Press that the situation most affects students and has started to divide students within NSSR. Emmanuel Guerisoli, a sociology Ph.D student and one of Arato’s advisees, said that the situation has caused friction between NSSR faculty and the student body. “It does affect me,” he said.
Image taken from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDkQg-KXM2Y&app=desktop
