Faculty union fights adjunct’s abrupt firing from university

By Grace Bertrand

The Rider faculty union’s frustration against the termination of Kate Ecke, former social work adjunct professor, has intensified as they vowed to fight the dismissal and fight for academic freedom at Rider, according to a facultywide email on Sept. 19. 

In the email, Rider’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors called the university’s response to the threats against Rider and Ecke “the most cowardly response” and said the action was “an outrageous example of blaming the victim.” 

This came as a follow-up to Provost Kelly Bidle’s Sept. 18 facultywide email that addressed the university’s decision to abruptly fire Ecke on Sept. 17 for political posts on Facebook concerning political commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination at Utah Valley University. 

Bidle’s email said, “To be clear: the termination decision was not about differing viewpoints or the suppression of academic freedom, but academic freedom has its limits, particularly as it relates to extramural speech. Such speech, when accompanied by professional ethics, appropriate restraint and respect for others, remains a cornerstone of our mission. But community standards matter. Civil discourse matters. And safety certainly matters.”

Rider’s AAUP chapter responded to the provost’s sentiment on what faculty were allowed and not allowed to say with a sentiment of their own: “Of course, such a right is no right at all. Speech that offends no one is in no need of defense.”  

The email then quoted a past statement from the national AAUP titled, “Academic Freedom in Times of War,” where the union said, “College and university officials are obligated to defend academic freedom; they must resist demands from politicians, trustees, donors, students and their parents, alumni or other parties to punish faculty members for exercising that freedom.” 

Rider’s AAUP chapter previously defended Ecke in a facultywide email after her firing, where they expressed their frustration for their colleague and declared for action to be taken: “We should all be outraged by the University’s actions in this case. If they can fire an adjunct for what they say as a private citizen, they can fire any of us for what we say. The AAUP will take all actions within its power to right this wrong.” 

In the email, Rider’s AAUP said that the university was in direct violation of their contract under Article IV, Academic Freedom, where they agreed to “not threaten, coerce, or discipline members of the bargaining unit because of what they say or what they do as private citizens.”

As a response, Bidle fought against the AAUP chapter’s accusation that Rider violated their contract with the faculty. She said in her Sept. 18 email, “While the adjunct faculty member expressed her opinions as a private citizen, she identified herself as a faculty member at Rider University. Her posts, revolving around the murder of Charlie Kirk, both justified tolerance of violence in response to others’ speech and included offensive sexual content.” 

The offensive sexual content is in reference to one of Ecke’s Facebook posts from Sept. 11 that insulted Kirk’s sexual adequacy in a vulgar manner and suggested that flags should not be flown at half staff for the podcaster. Ecke said she removed the post two days later. 

Ecke also said that she did not have anything on her profile that specifically listed her employment at Rider. On Sept. 2, however, she posted that she was teaching with a photo of her in a Rider T-shirt. Ecke said it was explained to her that she would only be in trouble if she said on her post “I’m speaking on behalf of Rider” or “Rider thinks” 

Bidle addressed in her email that the university’s concern was the safety of the campus. She said, “In response to these posts, several individuals at the University received a threat from a member of the external community … This decision was about protecting our students, faculty and staff in the face of real threats arising from these actions.” 

In an interview with The Rider News on Sept. 17, Ecke said that she had received threats following her posts. The location of her personal business had also been doxxed. Ecke said that in a meeting with Bidle on Sept. 15, Bidle explained “they had received a threat, an email, specifying me and the campus, and it was a veiled threat is what they said.” When Ecke asked what the threat was, she was told they could not tell her. 

On Sept. 16, Ecke received another email from Bidle that asked for her to come in for another meeting the following morning. The email read: “There has been a veiled threat, which is why we wish to meet and discuss. We take these issues very seriously, particularly given the climate in our nation and higher education.” 

In her Sept. 18 email, Bidle said Ecke had received death threats and was “working with her own local law enforcement on the matter.” She also noted that law enforcement had been notified of the threats made to campus. 

Lawrenceville Police did not confirm any reports of threats to the campus or to individuals, and referred all inquiries to Rider Public Safety. Matthew Babcock, Rider Public Safety director, said on Sept. 23 he did not have any Lawrenceville Police reports. 

In addition, no “timely warning” alert was issued to the Rider community regarding the threat made to Ecke and other members of the community. Under the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1998, Rider is required to notify the campus community when serious threats are made to the school. 

For example, in March 2022 during spring break, Rider Public Safety sent out a universitywide email with a “timely warning” notifying the campus of a “nonspecific bomb threat.” The email then stated that no specifics of the threat were received and law enforcement did not believe it was a credible threat. 

Babcock said that the threats against the “several individuals” did not constitute a crime that falls under one of the four main Clery Act’s categories: criminal offenses, hate crimes, offenses of the Violence Against Women Act and arrests for disciplinary action. He said the timely warning alerts are only utilized under emergency threats. 

Rider’s Vice President of External Affairs Kristine Brown said that the university had no further comment on the threats made to the university and that it would not be providing additional information related to the issue. 

Speaking out about her own political beliefs was not something Ecke exercised in the classroom as she did on her personal Facebook, according to a student from her 300-level social work policy class, Mya Mcfarland, a junior social work major. Mcfarland said that she could not recall any instances during the two weeks as her professor, where Ecke would voice her opinions. 

In reaction to Ecke’s firing, Mcfarland said, “I was shocked … She was such a nice and supportive professor. She never made us feel like anyone was excluded. We had our own voice and we could state our opinions.” 

Mcfarland said she was notified that her class was cancelled on the day Ecke was fired through an email from Brooke Hunter, senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The email said that Victor Thompson, chair of the Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice and Social Work would provide an update as soon as possible. 

Mcfarland said she only later found out how Ecke was fired from a meeting that was held by Thompson and Irma Sandoval-Arocho, an associate sociology professor. The meeting discussed the future of the course and offered the class different options to move forward. Ecke said the majority of the class agreed they wanted to continue the class with a different professor, which will be Sandoval-Arocho.

When asked if she found Ecke’s termination to be fair, Mcfarland said, “She always told us to speak out. You know, the university always wants us to speak out about any issues that may be going on or with our mental health or other issues, but when an adult does it, they try to shut her down and shun her voice.”  

According to a Sept. 22 New York Times article, the national AAUP is aware of retaliation against approximately 60 professors and teachers since Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination. 

Rider’s AAUP chapter is set on taking the necessary steps to fight against what they said is a breach of contract by the university: “While we are taking the steps outlined in our Agreement to reverse the wrong perpetuated on our faculty colleague, we are also exploring other actions to force the university to commit to a fully realized conception of academic freedom.” 

The chapter asked, “Is this the stance we can expect in the future every time some unhinged or extremist group threatens a faculty member because of their speech? This cannot be allowed to stand.”