Dive Brief:

• A North Dakota French professor was knocked from the tenure track because colleagues felt she was not collegial enough, but a faculty committee is taking the professor's side.
• The professor appealed to the committee and kept her hearings open to the public.
• Department colleagues said the professor argued and slammed doors, but the professor said the tenure qualifications should not take into account anything but teaching, research and "service to the institution and society."

Dive Insight:

The committee hearings were 32 hours over six days. Deliberations lasted about 10 more hours over three days. The committee finally recommended intervention by the school's president. If he agrees with the committee, the professor still has a chance for tenure. If that happens, that is going to be a very awkward department water cooler.