Northeastern

To the Northeastern Students, Alumni, Parents, and Faculty:

I want to first acknowledge how inappropriate it is that the news that I am about to share is coming from me, a Northeastern doctoral student in the Organizational Leadership Studies (OLS) concentration and Northeastern undergraduate alumna, rather than from the Northeastern Graduate School of Education (GSE) administration. One of the many ways in which Northeastern and the GSE has failed their students and staff is that they knowingly made the choice to withhold information that impacts students' learning and research.

The meeting minutes from a faculty meeting on October 13, 2020 demonstrate that concern for student welfare was addressed and Sara Ewell, the Director for the Doctor of Education Program, claimed that there was a communication plan for students in place. I am unaware of what plan was referenced, but if the email from CPS dated April 16, 2021 was the extent of their plan, then the GSE knowingly and willingly left out important information that is detrimental to students' welfare, research, and learning. I will detail the many ways in which I believe these actions to be unethical, irresponsible, and legally and morally questionable.

In their email announcement, dated Friday April 16, 2021, Northeastern announced that both OLS and Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, Leadership (CTLL) would no longer be available concentrations to EdD students.

However, they failed to inform students that the OLS full time faculty also had their contracts terminated at this time, despite the fact that a new concentration, Workplace Learning, would be replacing OLS.

The new Workplace Learning concentration will not be taught by the OLS faculty who designed the curriculum and courses. Additionally, the business model of the program appears to promote replacing full time faculty, the competent thought leaders and industry experts invested in students' learning and research, with adjunct faculty. Replacing our OLS faculty with less experienced, less invested staff, especially those of a lower caliber, is an insult to the faculty and to the financial and time investment of the Northeastern student body. It risks the reputation of every hard working doctoral student who earned the title "doctor" through rigorous study and research.

With the imminent termination of our concentration, faculty, and dissertation chairs, Northeastern's Graduate School of Education (GSE) is attempting to set a disturbing precedent for doctoral students, which we must stop to maintain the dignity of our doctoral degrees, to preserve rigor in research, and to demonstrate respect for the Northeastern faculty and all hard working doctoral students.

The Organizational Leadership Studies (OLS) concentration, one of the largest programs in the GSE with a census of 365, is the only program in the GSE that attracts international students. It is also noteworthy that it is a doctoral program in which students pay full tuition. Despite the success and lucrative nature of the program, the GSE administration decided to terminate the OLS program and all six full time OLS faculty members with no warning or communication to faculty or students. The OLS faculty members primarily teach foundation and research courses, advise, and serve as students' dissertation chairs. The only communication that the GSE administration has had with students regarding the faculty terminations was weeks after this decision was made via Facebook; the post has since been deleted. The termination of the OLS concentration and faculty represents a material alteration to the premise of admission; Northeastern has misrepresented and fraudulently presented this degree program to students. 

The decision to terminate this concentration and its faculty is alarming for many reasons, but the most concerning is that the administrators making these decisions had no communication, transition, or succession plan regarding the ethical responsibility to students' research and dissertation chairs. This is one of many examples that demonstrate the administrators' failure to comprehend the basic fundamentals of ethical research, much less the complexities of the multi-phase action research model affiliated with their program. Their actions indicate that the GSE administration does not know – or worse, care – about what their consumers, excuse me students, want and need to be successful and competitive in industry, which is in direct opposition to the mission and values Northeastern espouses. In another disturbing trend, it is becoming a norm in the EdD program to have these half time contractors present scripted and pre-recorded videos rather than instructing courses. In lieu of offering doctoral students industry experts, thought leaders, and educators committed to our learning, we are investing in a youtube education. This is not only an insult to the reputation and rigor of study that the institution of Northeastern prides itself on, it is a risk to accreditation and national standards. This could ruin the Northeastern reputation and negatively impact the national ranking. Every Northeastern degree is cheapened by this diploma mill approach.

As action researchers, we are taught the value and importance of consulting and collaborating with our stakeholders to ensure the best outcomes. We conduct multi-phase research cycles in which interventions are conducted, many of which are done with vulnerable populations. The core of action research is social justice and positive social and systemic change; OLS students are working on systemic issues with marginalized and prestigious stakeholders alike. We not only investigate, but implement interventions to address issues such as gender inequality, systemic racism, and psychologically unsafe workplaces. These are not research projects that should be unsupervised. An adjunct faculty member is not a suitable replacement, especially halfway through our course of study, for full time, dedicated faculty. The collaboration of industry experts is crucial to the success of our systemic interventions with prestigious stakeholders, many of whom also serve as donors and co-op sites to Northeastern. 

By abruptly terminating the relationships with our dissertation chairs and advisors without notice, the integrity and ethics of our research is at stake. As doctoral students, Northeastern has asked us to commit our time, energy, and money to this institution. Yet, they have not upheld their commitment to us as students. It is my understanding that there is still no plan of succession regarding dissertation chairs. The destruction of our professional learning community is highly unethical and unprofessional. Our dissertation chair serves as the principal investigator in our research, as an advisor, an industry expert, and as a mentor over the course of many years. To think these educators are easily replaceable is an insult to them and to us.

It also demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding, on the part of the GSE administration, for both the research process and the nature of these academic, professional, and personal relationships, which is alarming. I cannot reiterate this enough: it is not acceptable to offer adjunct faculty as a suitable or equitable replacement in this pivotal role. The research and publication process is severely hindered by the decision to terminate our dissertation chairs abruptly. This harms students in their academic and professional careers, while seriously compromising and calling into question the prestigious reputation that Northeastern touts as a Research 1 facility. Students and faculty who present at conferences and publish in international academic journals are an asset to the university. The disruption that will occur as a result of these faculty terminations does not facilitate student or university success; in fact, there is cause for tremendous emotional and mental health concern as the primary support for students is being terminated at pivotal moments in the doctoral journey. The decision to arbitrarily terminate student support without a plan to replace it, not to mention the failure to communicate this to students, is negligent and unethical. The impact on student learning and mental health is a disgusting oversight. The thought that this information was intentionally withheld from students, while enrollment in the OLS program and class registration continues, demonstrates moral bankruptcy. Northeastern has vastly misrepresented their program and the faculty offered to its students; there have been fundamental changes that constitute a material alteration and detriment to the understanding of the premise of admission.          

The lack of transparency and blatant deception is another way in which the GSE administration is desperately failing in the handling of this matter. Despite repeated requests, there has not been any communication to all OLS or GSE students with a clear and coherent action plan detailing a commitment to academic excellence, preservation of full time faculty, and commitment to research ethics and integrity. There have been requests for a Townhall, which the GSE refuses to hold for students. Rather than address us collectively, the GSE administration utilizes one-on-one conversations to pacify students, which sends confusing and mixed messages. Interim Dean Joe Griffin changes his story constantly, won't communicate with students as a whole, and has failed to present a clear action plan.

To make matters worse, the GSE is intentionally trying to hide information from students. When confronted about the caliber of the adjunct faculty who will be replacing the full time faculty, Interim Dean Griffin and Sara Ewell, Director of the EdD program, were asked if an adjunct with a degree from the University of Phoenix would ever be hired. The administrators denied that they would ever hire faculty with such credentials; yet, they already have, and she is teaching OLS courses this semester. Rather than address this honestly with students, their solution was to delete the faculty member's profile on the GSE website. Dean Karen Reiss Medwed actively threatened another NU employee's job in response to advocacy efforts. Dean Medwed actively tries to silence students. She also believes that Facebook is an acceptable means of official university communication with students. She is hostile and unprofessional, yet she is the representative that was chosen to communicate with students on behalf of the GSE. The administration – I refuse to call these people leadership – has demonstrated an utter lack of respect, open hostility, a clear lack of understanding for the program, and has greatly underestimated the caliber of their students. We chose Northeastern specifically for the Organizational Leadership program and to work with these faculty members. To offer us anything less is misrepresentation and fraud. 

It is deeply disturbing to know that this institution does not demonstrate that they value their faculty or students through their actions. This is a betrayal of trust that has soured my learning experience. This doctoral program has failed both their faculty and their students. This series of horrifying decisions from the GSE administration indicates that the level of academic excellence, commitment to integrity, and the ability to put students' needs and learning first that I saw as an undergraduate student is absent from this doctoral program. As an alumna, I am disappointed. As a current student, I am appalled.

I am deeply disturbed and disappointed in the direction that this program is heading under the current administration, particularly that of Provost David Madigan and Interim Dean Joe Griffin, especially without the guidance of our OLS faculty. I have absolutely no interest in investing more time, energy, and money to produce unsupervised, and thus subpar, research, culminating in a meaningless piece of paper from a diploma factory. I want and expect more from an institution of higher learning and from a doctoral program.

To lose my dissertation chair, an internationally known scholar and researcher, is devastating. To have my course of study altered, with very little assurance from a deceitful administration, is bewildering. Please sign the petition below, with comment, to send the message that this is not an acceptable standard of how doctoral study and research will be conducted at Northeastern University. If it can happen to OLS, a lucrative and successful program, what is protecting other doctoral programs? This is a crucial moment to come together and let Northeastern know that we expect academic excellence. We expect peer review. We expect a rigorous, ethical, and supervised research process conducted with industry and subject matter experts in our field of study. We expect our course of study to remain unaltered. The thought of anything less at a doctoral level, under the banner of Northeastern University, is unacceptable. 

If action is not taken immediately, I am afraid that Northeastern's accreditation with NECHE is at stake. It is my hope that this letter is a call to action. I'm asking for your help to preserve the dignity of the doctoral degree, demonstrate respect for the faculty, illustrate the values of student learning, and integrity of research that Northeastern espouses. Tremendous wrongs have been done to both students and staff by the GSE administration. I hope the administration is able and willing to remedy this situation before it is detrimental to the mental and emotional health of the students, the integrity of the research being conducted, and prestige of the university.