Criticism follows University of Buffalo firing of of Hebrew instructor
An ambitious effort to establish a Jewish studies program of national prominence at the University at Buffalo has run into some unexpected growing pains after the firing of a longtime Hebrew instructor.
The dismissal in April of Rachel Lipsky, who taught Hebrew at UB for 23 years, prompted criticism for the new institute’s director, Richard A. Cohen, and drew notable Jewish figures Judea Pearl and Elie Weisel into the fray.
Lipsky’s supporters accused Cohen of firing Lipsky, an adjunct instructor who taught part time, so that he could hire the wife of another new professor. A few other adjunct instructors who had taught Jewish studies at UB also were not asked to return.
UB officials denied any wrongdoing. New hires were made to bolster the program, and any nonrenewal of contracts was done with plenty of advance notice, they said.
“Crucial to any scholarly program is the quality of the faculty hired, and we have hired well,” said Bruce D. McCombe, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, in a May 19 letter addressing the dustup.
McCombe’s office referred questions to Cohen, who discussed the development of the institute in a recent interview but declined to comment on Lipsky.
Lipsky also declined to comment for this story, but The Buffalo News obtained a series of e-mail exchanges and letters chronicling the case, including brief e-mailed words of support for Lipsky from Nobel Peace Prize winner Weisel and from Pearl, a UCLA professor, father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl and head of the foundation that bears his son’s name.
Lipsky complained to the State University of New York, and the system’s provost and senior vice chancellor determined that UB had acted appropriately.
“There is no presumption that a part-time faculty member will be rehired,” noted David Lavallee, the provost, in his June 10 letter to Lipsky. “Not being rehired does not in and of itself indicate dissatisfaction with performance, but is typically based on projected need for additional instructors to teach sections for which there are insufficient full-time faculty members.”
The program in Jewish studies at UB was able to hire additional full-time faculty— a development Lavallee labeled a “very positive indicator of program strength and of the commitment of the university to the area of study.”
UB officials had lofty goals in 2008 when they announced the creation of the Institute for Jewish Thought, Heritage and Culture, along with a $1 million gift from Buffalo couple Gordon and Gretchen Gross toward an endowed professorship at the institute.
In addition to Cohen, who studies ethics and philosophy, the university already has hired Aaron Cook, an expert in Medieval Jewish philosophy and early Modern European history, and Sergey Dolgopolski, who specializes in biblical and Talmudic Judaism. Dolgopolski’s wife, Lilia Dolgopolskaia, was hired as an adjunct instructor and will teach Hebrew.
Ultimately, the aim is to hire five full-time faculty members and create a Jewish studies department that grants bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees — the only program of its type in the SUNY system.