Posted on 05/18/2018 4:25:16 AM PDT by BBell
University of Kentucky officials are trying to fire a tenured professor because they say he made students buy his book for classes he taught and then kept the proceeds without telling administrators.
The move against journalism faculty Buck Ryan – who was sanctioned for inappropriate behavior in 2016 — is nearly unprecedented for tenured faculty in the last 50 years at UK, and will be a test of UK’s tenure policies and procedures.
But UK struck a tough stance, with Provost David Blackwell saying in a statement to the Herald-Leader that Ryan “stole from students. And he used university resources to do it.”
An internal audit alleges Ryan had made his self-published book, "Writing Baby, Editing Dog and You: A Friendly Place to Begin Your Writing,” required reading for his students since 2009 and had made about $6,000 in royalties. The book cost $30 per copy. UK policy requires special administrative permission before professors can use their own books in their classes and also requires any royalties to be donated to the school or a charity. At one point, Ryan got the journalism department to pay for a reprinting of the book because, the audit says, officials assumed the book would be given to students, not sold.
Ryan says he will fight the charges, but declined to answer further questions. He instead provided a five-page letter to Dan O'Hair, dean of the College of Communications and Mike Farrell, interim director of the journalism school. In it, he said he submitted his book for review to both the dean and the director in 2008 as part of his merit review, and took that to mean he had permission to use it in classes.
"Never did I hear during 10 merit reviews by two journalism directors and two deans, from 2007-08 to 2016-17, that 'Writing
(Excerpt) Read more at kentucky.com ...
I had a number of classes in college where the class used the professors book. In my case, all were purchased from the book store. Maybe this guy was selling for cash our of his trunk.
Oh my - was he cutting the university out of their share of the profit!? LOL!
Thought it was Britain. UK.
A $30 textbook??? He was fleecing the students and made $6000 over ten years??? Lol
“Tenure” is the biggest bullsh&t in education!..... earn your stay or be gone!!!
$600/year is pretty weak sauce to risk your tenure over.
Did he accept credit cards? Most college kids don’t have $30 cash and don’t know how to write a check.
Tuition alone is Professorial Theft these days.
The book was for sale in the book store. That is how he was caught.
I never saw a $30 book for my college kids. They were all $90 or more.
The case is far less clear-cut than the headline makes it to be.
I doubt he will lose tenure.
Sounds more like miscommunication than theft.
He did not handle it correctly by the book. No pun intended.
No. It was England.
“...UK policy requires special administrative permission before professors can use their own books in their classes....”
When I was in College several professors used their own book in their classes. I don’t know about the financial details.
“”No. It was England.””
WHAT?
That is cheap for a textbook. It probably was more along the lines of a glorified pamphlet.
Yes. My post left off the sarcasm tag.
I would love it if my children’s texts were so cheap. There must be more to the story.
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