Oscar-winning sound editor David Stone and two-time Emmy-winning sound and dialog editor Lou Kleinman spent the DePaul University spring break reeling from the surprise news that they should look for new employment.
They also were informed their contracts to teach the school’s Digital Cinema program would not be renewed, and were relieved of their teaching duties for the remainder of the academic year.
That left the fledgling program’s 350-plus students wondering who will fill their place for the spring semester.
The decision will come as a surprise to many, as Stone and Kleinman’s classes had repeatedly scored highly in student evaluations, and DePaul had heavily recruited the pair for their Hollywood experience and A-list status.
DePaul declined to comment on the individual cases, but informed ReelChicago that the college “has two types of faculty ? a full-time, permanent core faculty with terminal degrees that are tenured or on a tenure-track, and a one-year, non-tenure track faculty corps that is temporary.
“This model enables DePaul to be responsive to developing pedagogical and curricular needs and tap into the wealth of top professional expertise available in a particular field.”
