Collin College professors say they’re losing their jobs after speaking out on COVID-19
A Collin College education professor for nearly 20 years says she is being let go after forming a local chapter of a faculty advocacy group and criticizing the college’s COVID-19 reopening plans.
Suzanne Jones, who has taught at the college for almost 20 years, said she and humanities professor Audra Heaslip were on track to have their contracts renewed when they were called in for a meeting with the provost.
“I was told that I would not be getting my contract extension and I started to ask why but I was told to be quiet and just listen,” Jones said. “I was told I would have the opportunity to ask questions and defend myself at another time.”
Collin College didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Star-Telegram. The college said in a statement to the Dallas Morning News that it does not “publicly comment on internal personnel matters.” The Dallas Morning News reported that Collin College President H. Neil Matkin said in emails to staff over the summer that the administration does not retaliate against faculty and staff.
Jones said she thinks her role in forming the Collin College chapter of the Texas Faculty Association, an advocacy group for professors, was a factor in the decision, as well as her role in drafting a petition to the administration to alter plans for reopening campus amid the coronavirus pandemic.
She said she was told her contract is not being renewed because of an open letter she signed, including her position with the college in her signature, in 2017 calling for the removal of confederate statues in Dallas and because the Texas Faculty Association last year included Collin College on a list of higher education institutions that have TFA chapters.
Jones received a call from a college administrator asking her to have the college removed from the list, she said. Jones does not have any control over the website but said she made a call to the association’s statewide administration and Collin College was removed from the list within 48 hours.
That was her second strike, she was told. But Jones said she thinks it has more to do with the formation of the association, which many have mistaken for a union.
She added that a petition calling for Collin College to either offer as many online classes as possible or give teachers the option to decide their class format during the COVID-19 pandemic also played a significant role in the college’s decision to let her go.
Heaslip, a professor of humanities since 2006, said she was told that the petition was one reason she was not being renewed. It was seen as an act of defiance against the administration, she was told. She said that wasn’t what it was meant to be, but rather a way for faculty who weren’t able to meet on campus to share their concerns.
Heaslip said she was told her involvement of “outside agents” to put pressure on the college to change its plans for reopening amid the pandemic was the second strike against her.
She said she doesn’t know which outside agents were involved, but she suspects interviews with the Dallas Morning News, KERA, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Ed and the American Association of University Professors were what was being referenced.
Jones and Heaslip will be able to continue teaching until May, when their contracts expire.
“They’re saying I’m not being fired, I’m just not being renewed,” Jones said. “But it’s effectively the same thing.”
The Texas Faculty Association agrees.
Texas Faculty Association President Pat Heintzelman said in a news release Monday that Jones and Heaslip were “fired” last week “because they challenged the college’s COVID-19 reopening plans out of concerns for their safety and the safety of their colleagues and students.”
The faculty members were let go after “exercising their First Amendment rights during a health emergency,” the release stated.
Heintzelman said the association is exploring possible legal action against the college on the behalf of the professors.
The two faculty members were among almost 130 people who signed a resolution before the start of the fall semester last year urging the college to move as many classes as possible online.
Jones said she and Heaslip wrote and signed the petition as members of the faculty council, an elected group at Collin College not affiliated with the TFA. As members of the council, Jones said, the two were tasked with advocating for faculty and acting as a liaison between teachers and administrators.
She said their advocacy for things like a mask mandate on campus and the creation of the petition was part of their jobs.
“Both women were outspoken in their concerns about the health and safety of faculty and students being on campus during the deadly pandemic,” Heintzelman said in the release.
The Texas State Department of Health Services reports more than 2 million cases of COVID-19 across the state and 62,986 confirmed cases and 580 deaths in Collin County.
Collin College said on its website that 102 students self-reported COVID-19 infections between Jan. 2 and Jan. 29, including 51 who are enrolled in face-to-face classes.
Collin College had 35,617 students enrolled during the fall 2020 semester, the latest semester with data available.
Jones said the college’s decision not to renew her contract was shocking. Last year she was recognized with the Engaged Faculty Scholarship award for her work at Collin College, she said. The award allowed her to present a scholarship to a student of her choice.
Jones said she has filed a grievance and expects she will have the opportunity to ask questions and defend her position with the college during hearings. Heaslip said she plans to file a grievance as well, though she is not optimistic the outcome will go in her favor.