Opinion ID: 2778730
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Chair and Acting Chair Appointments

Text: In April 2008, CSU’s Department of Accounting and Finance began the process of appointing a new department chair. A chair appointment at CSU occurs through a multistep procedure. First, the faculty votes to recommend a candidate. Second, the dean of the College of Business reviews the faculty vote and determines whether he concurs with the faculty’s selection. The dean then forwards the results of the faculty vote, along with his recommendation for the selection, to the provost. The provost and university president then discuss the appointment. The president ultimately decides who will be appointed chair, but usually follows the dean’s recommendation. No. 13-3367 5 Carter and another professor, Dr. Ernest Coupet, submitted their names as candidates for the faculty vote. Carter and Coupet tied in the faculty election, each earning four votes. After the vote, Coupet withdrew from consideration in order to promote unity within the department. Dean Simyar was not willing to recommend Carter to the president, however, and he asked Coupet to reconsider his candidacy. Simyar told Coupet that, if needed, Simyar would seek to fill the position with a candidate from outside the department, rather than recommend Carter. Coupet agreed to resubmit his name, and Simyar recommended Coupet to President Elnora Daniels. Daniels selected Coupet as chair in May 2008. Simyar explained his lack of support for Carter’s candidacy by citing a policy—either of CSU or of President Daniels—that the Chair should hold a PhD or other terminal degree. Daniels had previously rejected several candidates for other department chair positions because they lacked terminal degrees. Coupet held a PhD, and Carter held an MBA, which is not a terminal degree. Simyar testified that he knew Daniels would not approve Carter’s candidacy, since he lacked a terminal degree. At least three chairs of other departments, however, did not have PhDs at the time of Coupet’s appointment. 1 In addition, in the same year that Simyar recommended Coupet, he recommended a professor for another Chair position, even though that professor’s PhD was from an unaccredited institution. 1 The appointment details regarding these other professors are not clear from the record. 6 No. 13-3367 Coupet’s tenure as chair was short—he resigned in August, after about two months in the position. Simyar selected Professor Atha Hunt as acting chair in November 2008. It appears that CSU had a less formalized process for the selection of acting chairs—they were appointed by the dean without a faculty vote or any particular degree requirements.