The Stentor

Issue date: 5/7/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Allie Early Members of the Stentor staff in pose with advisor Fern Schumer Chapman last Thanksgiving. [Click to enlarge]

Through a series of inadvertent e-mails and an ambiguous phone conversation, the adviser to The Stentor learned two weeks ago of her dismissal for "economic" reasons.

Fern Schumer Chapman, who has served as the newspaper's adviser for the last six years, found out that her contract for 2009-2010 would not be renewed after a professor e-mailed her and her students to ask about the responsibilities of the job after he was "invited" to become the new faculty adviser.

Chapman immediately called three offices to determine her status. Dean of Faculty Janet McCracken returned her call and explained that the College is "exploring" the possibility of assigning a faculty member to volunteer for the position as "service" for the next academic year. One criterion for professor tenure is participation in campus extra-curricular activities, according to the College's Faculty Handbook.

The next morning, College President Steve Schutt sent an e-mail to Stentor Editor-in-Chief Kyle Meredith and News Editor Justin Tardiff explaining the reasons for the adviser's dismissal, but did not contact Chapman. She received a letter from President Schutt notifying her directly that her contract would not be renewed nearly a week after the first faculty e-mail alluding to the dismissal.

In the e-mail to the student editors, Schutt stated that "the College will not be able to retain Fern Chapman as the adviser to The Stentor next year. This change is a cost-saving measure, along with many others the College has taken or plans to take during the current recession, in order to preserve a broad range of academic courses and other components of our academic mission." For her work as adviser, Chapman was paid $8,800 per year.

Schutt also stated in the e-mail that Chapman has done "a very professional and commendable job." Under Chapman's leadership, The Stentor won numerous awards from the Illinois College Press Association.

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