It is painful, but probably necessary to watch this situation play out in public. I anticipate being criticized for writing this letter.
To read in print that the Digital Cinema faculty sent a group statement to Father Dennis causes the knot in my stomach to harden. Several of these faculty members hardly know Dave or Lou. Two of them are new to the school.
Dave, Lou and I have always advocated for what we feel is best for the students. Sometimes our ideas conflicted with the direction of the program, and we were characterized negatively for our efforts.
I found myself being responded to with suspicion by other faculty but was never given a reason other than a lack of loyalty and support for the DC leadership. It is hard enough to live with a work situation where the students respect you but the faculty does not.
But what is, in my view, totally indefensible is to let a faculty member know in late March, that he will not have a job as of July, even though it has always been the practice to give one year of notice so the person has the appropriate amount of time to apply for other academic positions.
There is a human cost to such an action. My son is a student at DePaul. He makes exceptional grades and has loved his classes and the friends he has made. Now we are faced with the probability that he will have to take a year off from college while we regroup, because he will not have the tuition grant that has allowed him to attend this expensive university.
As a mother, this is the hardest part for me. I wish David Miller would explain why terminating Dave abruptly was so necessary that my son has to pay such a price.
Vanessa Ament, former adjunct at DePaul University
