Prof. Needs a Degree

To the Editors:

I applaud the recent decision by the College not to reappoint sociology instructor Antoinette Charfauros McDaniel. The Ph.D. (or, in some fields, the MFA) is now an absolute requirement to teach and conduct research at the college level. There is no excuse for an institution the caliber of Oberlin College to compromise its standards by making an exception to this rule. The academic job market is glutted with many, many highly-qualified Ph.D.s who could easily fill Ms. Charfauros McDaniel’s shoes.
Sadly, it is fairly routine for undergraduates who do not understand the ways of academia to rally behind dismissed faculty, especially an instructor known for their radical political views or who happens to be of a racial or sexual minority. When my father was an undergraduate at the Univ. of Chicago in the late 1960s, the campus was nearly shut down when a female professor was denied tenure; when I briefly attended the Univ. of Illinois prior to coming to Oberlin, a few students picketed when an ABD sociology instructor, who also happened to be an outspoken lesbian socialist, was not renewed. In both of these cases, as in the case of Ms. Charfauros McDaniel, the central issue in the decision was not politics or identity, but rather individual qualifications vis-a-vis institutional and national standards. Ms. Charfauros McDaniel may very well be an entertaining lecturer, but her qualifications do not match those required by the position she fills (as spelled out in her employment contract), and thus she is not eligible to continue in the position.
Colleges and universities have a responsibility to their students and alumni to follow institutional procedures and to uphold faculty quality. People are paying $30,000+ annually to go to Oberlin because it offers an amazing faculty and a superior education. If you really want to be taught by someone without a terminal degree, I suggest matriculating at a community college — it’s much cheaper.

–Seth Hindin
OC ’00
Boston, Mass.