2 Benedict professors fired over grade policy

Two Benedict College science professors have been fired after they refused to assign grades that rewarded students’ effort as much as acquired knowledge.

President David Swinton dismissed Milwood Motley and Larry Williams when they defied his Success Equals Effort policy, which Swinton said provides struggling freshmen a leg up in adapting to college academics.

Swinton implemented SEE at the historically black private college in the 2003-04 school year. The formula calls for calculating freshman grades based on a 60-40 formula, with effort counting for 60 percent and academics counting for 40 percent.

In the sophomore year, the formula would be 50-50; by junior year, students would be judged strictly on academic performance.

“In my view, our kids should be expected to get better and better,” Swinton said Tuesday. “I’m interested in where they are at when they graduate, not where they are when they get here.”

But Motley said the policy compromises the integrity of Benedict, a liberal arts college in downtown Columbia with an enrollment of almost 3,000. He and other critics say students are being promoted to increase student retention and to falsely boost academic performance.

The American Association of University Professors is investigating whether the firings constitute an infringement of the professors’ academic freedom.

Motley, who came to Benedict five years ago from the Morehouse School of Medicine, said he was uncomfortable with the concept from the beginning. But he went along with it grudgingly until he was confronted with an academic dilemma: giving a passing grade to a student he believed had not learned the course material.

Awarding a C to a student whose highest exam score was less than 40 percent was more than he could tolerate.

This spring, he defied the SEE policy, as did department colleague Williams. Neither has tenure. Williams would not comment for this story.

“I did it (awarded grades) strictly on academic performance,” Motley said. “They told us to go back and recalculate the grades, and I just refused to do it.”

A faculty grievance committee, by a 4-3 vote, recommended his reinstatement. Swinton overruled the committee, dismissing Motley’s claim that his academic freedom had been violated.

“The record makes it abundantly clear that Dr. Motley has committed this infraction,” Swinton wrote in a July 13 letter to the chairwoman of the committee. “Moreover, the transcript of the hearing reveals that he admits to refusing to comply with college policy and states that he would not comply if reinstated.”

Swinton said professors have some leeway in calculating what goes into effort, factoring in attendance, completion of assignments and class participation.

The students “have to get an A in effort to guarantee that if they fail the subject matter, they can get the minimum passing grade,” Swinton said. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

He said the college plans to monitor the incoming class of sophomores, the first to be graded under the SEE policy, to determine learning outcomes.

“If anybody manages to do effort for two years, they are going to learn something and develop the study habits that they need as a junior,” he said.

The Harvard-educated Swinton acknowledged he would not implement such a policy at a more selective institution and does not know of a similar policy at any other college.

But he said Benedict is unique. Founded in 1870 to educate freed slaves, the college has been a haven for students who must overcome barriers to obtain higher education. Many are the first in their families to attend college.

With its open-admissions policy, Swinton said, many students arrive at Benedict with poor study habits and weak high school records. His job, he said, is to help them succeed.

The American Association of University Professors said Swinton might be trampling on academic freedom in the process.

In an Aug. 10 letter to Swinton, Jordan Kurland, the group’s associate general secretary, asked Swinton for more information about the matter, saying his actions might be grounds for censure.

“He (Swinton) may be doing it for the noblest reasons,” Kurland said from his Washington, D.C., office. “For him to himself come in with a new grading policy and for one or more professors to say, ‘Look, we just can’t do it, it’s against every standard we have,’ and then be fired for insubordination — that’s about as extreme as you can get.”

The professors “were not dismissed because they did not follow the policy,” he said. “They were dismissed for insubordination. They were openly defiant and in some cases hostile.”

Swinton said he would not tangle with the association, which promotes academic freedom and standards nationally.

Nevertheless, some members of the Benedict faculty recently re-established a chapter on campus, installing William R. Gunn Jr. as president.

Gunn, chairman of the health, physical education and recreation department, said the chapter is preparing to survey the faculty to gauge their support for Swinton.

“When you see two people get fired like that, I think there is a fear factor out there,” said Gunn, who has taught at Benedict for 40 years.

Swinton serves at the pleasure of the board of trustees, which has backed him solidly during his 10 years at Benedict.

“His best asset is his vision,” said Milton Kimpson, a retired school administrator and former adviser to Gov. Dick Riley who has served on the Benedict board for 40 years.

“I think he makes decisions that cause you to really stretch, and I think that’s a good thing. Sometimes we sit and are afraid to take a good calculated risk.”

“We have always been an open-admissions institution, always taken students where they are and worked with them,” he said.

“We used to hold their feet to the fire. Now with something like this, we’re saying we’re going to give you some extra time.”

Benedict Grading Policy Prompts Controversy

By Terrell Bryant
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Benedict College

President David Swinton says, "Some students are not revealed of their true knowledge" by standardized tests.

The firings of two Benedict College professors in the spring over their refusal to implement a controversial grading policy has sparked a barrage of criticism -- both local and national -- that the college is lowering academic standards.

The professors, Milwood Motley and Larry Williams, received letters of termination in the mail in June. They were fired for insubordination, Benedict College's president, David H. Swinton, said in an interview.

Speaking to local news media after word of the firings was made public, Motley said, “They told us to go back and recalculate the grades. I just refused to do it.”

Faculty, Student and Community Views on SEE

Benedict’s Success Equals Effort (SEE) grading policy, in place since fall 2003, says that freshmen will be guaranteed a passing grade if they put forth a specified level of effort. Swinton said that means taking all tests, promptly turning in all assignments, participating in class discussion, doing all that is asked by the instructors and attending classes regularly.

Freshmen are graded on a scale of 60 percent effort and 40 percent acquired knowledge. For sophomores, the grading policy originally was set at 50 percent effort, 50 percent acquired knowledge, but since the controversy began, that has been adjusted: Now, sophomores must demonstrate 40 percent effort and 60 percent acquired knowledge.

The policy does not apply to junior- and senior-level courses.

Photo credit: Tiger News

William Gunn, of Benedict's chapter of the American Association of University Professors, says that he understands what the president is trying to do, but, "I do not believe in the policy nor the way it was implemented."

After the firing of Motley and Williams, a faculty grievance committee voted for the reinstatement of at least one of the professors. However, the appeal was rejected by Swinton, who ultimately determines who is hired and fired; he refused to rehire the two. Motley and Williams have since filed lawsuits against the college. Motley’s wife, Wanda, is also a party in his suit. She cites marital and financial stress on her family.

Williams, a Benedict alumnus who has a doctorate in environmental sciences, said in an interview, “I do not believe the policy serves the students, nor does the school any service. When I was in school here, the academics were much more rigorous. I have mixed emotions. I really want what is best. HBCUs have always been looked at negatively. This does nothing but add to those stereotypes.”

Motley, who has a doctorate in microbiology, said, “I think the intention of the policy is good, but as an educator I could not do it. . . . I felt that it lowered my professional standards. In good conscience, I could not do something that I felt was wrong.”

Williams is now an adjunct professor at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg. Motley is teaching part-time at Midlands Technical College, airport campus, in Columbia, S. C.

Meanwhile, the debate over the merits of SEE continues.

Criticism of the policy, the firings and even the academic standards of the college has come from some faculty and students, and from columnists in local and national news media.

Swinton defends the policy and its intent. He has been holding special meetings to hear comments and to listen to concerns over the perception of the college. He has also sent letters to parents.

During the interview, Swinton noted that the policy is perhaps a new type of grading assessment, but one he said he felt was needed to find solutions to many of the problems faced by African American youth in schools.

“In South Carolina as in the nation, African Americans are disadvantaged socially and economically,” he said. “Some students are not revealed of their true knowledge by tests such as PACT exams when they leave from the public school systems.” PACT refers to the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests, part of South Carolina's statewide assessment program measuring student performance on state standards.

Having been an educator for more than 30 years and a college president for more than 10, Swinton said, he has seen enough to know that the SEE policy can work.

”It is something new, but it is designed to help give students that extra push, to give them the necessary tools to be successful later in life,” he said. Swinton also said he believes the policy will help with retention.

“If students are taught how to be successful students, then they more than likely will stay in school until they graduate,” he said.

Asked if there were any assessment tools in place to evaluate the policy, Swinton said the college was looking at several measures, but that overall he felt confident the policy will meet its goals: to achieve higher test scores, improve academic performance and dramatically improve retention and graduation rates.

As to whether the controversial policy might affect Benedict’s accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Swinton said, “The college will be in full compliance if there is something SACS feels we need to change.”

However, having served as chair of several accreditation committees, Swinton said he knows the accreditation process: “I know what has to be done.”

Asked about criticism from several faculty members, Swinton said the policy is “designed to improve or empower the faculty to teach more effectively.”

However, Benedict's chapter of the American Association of University Professors has grave concerns about the policy, said its head, William Gunn, chairman of the health, physical education and recreation department. Chapter members have issued a position paper explaining why they believe the policy might hurt the institution.

“While I understand what Swinton is trying to do,” said Gunn, “I do not believe in the policy nor the way it was implemented.”

Gunn said some things should have taken place before the policy was implemented, such as faculty discussion over the merits of the policy and faculty involvement in how it would be implemented on a per-instructor basis, to help ensure academic freedom.

“This is not a new practice,” he said. “As stated in the position paper, academic policies have been handed down from above, as opposed to being worked out from the ground up with faculty voices and votes.” Gunn added that in order for the professors to uphold the school’s motto of "being powers for good in society," they are going to need help from the administration.

"I am not a renegade," he said. "I like Swinton. I think he’s a great guy. However, we just see things differently.

"I believe from the bottom of my soul that students can do anything they want to do, once they believe in themselves. I think the policy shortchanges them. Motivation comes from within,” he said.

Swinton said he is tired of the negative publicity.

”This is another form of racism,” he said. At the end of the assessment of the policy, which should be in four years, when the first students under SEE graduate, “I wonder how they will react when the results come back positive.”

Terrell Bryant, a student at Benedict College, writes for The Tiger News.

Posted Nov. 3, 2004

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