To the Hofstra community:
We would like to respectfully respond to two Letters to the Editor that were received in response to last week’s article titled “Tenured Zarb professors driven to resign.”
In the letter from Dean Herman Berliner, he mentions two factual errors in the piece. He points out that the article labeled Dr. Ralph Polimeni as head of the DPC and also said that Dr. Mohamed Gomaa was given tenure. These inaccurate statements were brought to the attention of The Chronicle and changed in the online version of the piece prior to receiving Berliner’s letter.
In the letter by the four faculty members, they stated that “… what wasn’t mentioned in the article, is that the Committee unanimously supported Dr. Gomaa for reappointment.” However, we did originally report that, “After appearing at a DPC meeting regarding these charges, the accusations were dropped. Berliner and the DPC unanimously recommended his reappointment.”
The four faculty members asserted that the information in our article was “incomplete.” The Chronicle would like to make clear that Dr. Burke was reached out to for comment and given the opportunity to share her side or feelings on the matters presented in the article. She chose not to comment and referred all questions to the dean.
The Chronicle would also like to make clear that our reporter did their best effort to represent all major parties in the article and did not in any way attempt to mislead the Hofstra community. We apologize for the errors in titles and hope that by changing these errors online in a timely fashion we have prevented any further readers from being exposed to these discretions.
The Chronicle holds every piece in our publication to the highest of standards and would not publish an article that we did not believe met them.
We ultimately stand by the publication of the article. Our reporter was acting with the information provided to them by all parties reached, which we still feel was necessary to share with the Hofstra community.
The Hofstra Chronicle Editorial Board
Frustrated Faculty Member • Apr 17, 2018 at 3:26 pm
I applaud the editors for their support of their student writer. She obviously worked very hard on a difficult and controversial story. Quite honestly, the Dean should be ashamed of himself for his personal comments toward this student in his letter to the editors. This kind of language is beneath the position of Dean, was unnecessary to make his point, and is another example of bullying. Also, perhaps before he attacks the credibility of this writer he should have proofread his own work. He spelled Dr. Tinkelman’s name wrong and referred to Profs’ Lopez and Weisel as Drs. when they are not. Yes, they have law degrees, but their office doors, the Hofstra website, their Syllabi, and everywhere else they are referred to as Professors. I guess since he got these two facts wrong we can completely disregard everything else he wrote too.
I am NOT a fan of Pres. Trump — but one of his quotes is so apropos here: the swamp needs to be drained. There is a crisis of confidence in the leadership of this once prestigious department and in the Dean’s office. No other department has this level of unprofessional discourse, turnover of faculty, and cronyism.
Sadly, the powers that be will remain the COWARDS that they’ve always been – afraid of this Dean (like more than half of the faculty under him) and they will do NOTHING. At some point a change in leadership MUST happen. Sadly, I hold out no hope for that.