The Nutty Professor
Florida Atlantic University has fired James Tracy, but not for the reason that would seem obvious.
Tracy, an associate professor in FAU’s School of Communications and Multimedia Studies, has claimed repeatedly on Internet websites that the 2012 massacre of 20 students and six faculty members at Sandy Hook School didn’t happen. He has expressed similar doubts about the Boston Marathon bombing and other mass murders.
Last month, the parents of a Sandy Hook victim claimed in a letter to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Tracy had harassed them. Veronique and Lenny Pozner said Tracy called them the “alleged parents” of their son, Noah, and demanded proof that Noah had lived. The 6-year-old was shot 11 times, according to the medical examiner who autopsied his body. A Toronto Star columnist wrote that Veronique Pozner insisted on an open coffin so people could see what gun violence does.
On Dec. 16, FAU notified Tracy in a letter that the university was moving to fire him. On Tuesday, FAU made the firing official, effective Friday, though not because of Tracy’s oddball conspiracy theories or his communications with the Pozners. Vice Provost Diane Alperin told Tracy that he is losing his job for failing to fill out Report of Outside Employment or Professional Activity Forms for the last three academic years.
Alperin said the university had notified Tracy of this failure on Nov. 10, and had asked him to submit the forms within 48 hours. According to Alperin’s letter, Tracy refused. Instead, Alperin wrote, Tracy responded on Nov. 22 with “arguments as to why you should not have to submit Activity Forms.” FAU then gave Tracy until Dec. 14 to submit the forms. He didn’t.
Let’s pause to note that FAU cited procedural grounds for firing Tracy, apparently avoiding issues related to free speech or academic freedom. As far as we know, Tracy has not raised his conspiracy theories while teaching at FAU, only on websites with no connection to the university. FAU, though, essentially is claiming that Tracy’s outside activities jeopardize his commitment to teaching. The letter also suggests that Tracy used FAU resources for his outside activities without telling the university.
Alperin’s letter—which lawyers surely wrote or reviewed—focuses on this point while touching indirectly on the issue of Tracy’s online comments and FAU’s credibility. “You publicly engage in external personal activity that requires your time and effort, “Alperin said. “Disclosure and management of your outside activity is necessary and reasonable. It is for the administration to decide, with your input, if a conflict exists, and how to manage a conflict where necessary.”
Instead, Tracy has “repeatedly and willfully failed to provide the administration the information it needs to discharge its responsibilities. Other faculty engage in outside activity without issue, or have managed conflicts, by complying with the clear reporting rules.”
Ideally, FAU would be able to dump Tracy because his online comments damage his credibility to teach at a public university—and certainly to teach courses in communications. Tracy, though, is tenured. To fire Tracy, FAU must show that he violated the collective bargaining agreement between the faculty and the trustees. Alperin’s letter cites Tracy’s alleged violations.
The agreement, however, also allows Tracy to contest the firing. He intends to do so, using a lawyer provided by the union United Faculty of Florida.
If Tracy’s firing stands—as it should—FAU will have artfully dumped a faculty member who had become an embarrassment. Because FAU couldn’t, or chose not to fire Tracy for denying reality, though, there may be a new debate on tenure just as the next Senate president, Joe Negron, proposes new money for the universities.
And if Tracy’s firing doesn’t stand? The debate in Tallahassee might center on getting rid of tenure.
New doctoral program
In better news for FAU, the Board of Governors in November approved the university’s request to start a doctoral program in social work. It will start in the fall, and will be the first such program at a state university.
Mega Meeting Day
It will be a rare triple-header on Monday for the Boca Raton City Council.
Roughly twice a month, the council has back-to-back Monday afternoon meetings, first as the Community Redevelopment Agency board—dealing with downtown issues—and then as the council, for a workshop meeting. The regular council meeting comes on Tuesday night.
Next week, though, council members want to attend Palm Beach County Day in Tallahassee. That’s on Wednesday. So the council will hold all meetings on Monday, leaving Tuesday for the long travel day from South Florida to Tallahassee. The three agendas are comparatively light, but at its regular meeting the council will discuss a new proposal that would raise salaries for the mayor and council members.
It would boost the mayor’s salary from $9,000 to roughly $38,000 and the council’s salary from $7,200 to nearly $29,000. Those figures amount to 40 percent and 30 percent, respectively, of a Palm Beach County commissioner’s salary. The statewide primary is in August. Voters would decide whether to grant the raises in a referendum on that day.
Councilman Mike Mullaugh, who leaves office in March 2017, first proposed salaries tied to those for state legislators. Like the mayor and council members, legislators are considered part-time officials, though the good ones put in what amounts to full-time work.
That comparison made more sense. County commissioners are considered full-time employees. In this version, the raises would be slightly smaller at first. The ordinance, though, does not specifically address whether Boca salaries would increase automatically with commissioners’ salaries. Under state law, they rise in proportion to a county’s rise in population.
And as previously noted, history shows that turnout would be much higher if the ordinance went on the general election ballot in November. In principle, I favor raising salaries that have stayed the same since 1966. The numbers in this ordinance, however, are random—why did the council choose 40 percent and 30 percent?—and a vote in August would not sufficiently represent community sentiment.
Getting the look right
In the city’s continuing effort to get the look and feel of downtown right, Boca Raton has scheduled for Jan. 27 a community meeting to discuss regulations for open space and for what City Manager Leif Ahnell calls “improving the public realm at the ground level.”
The issue arose during a Community Redevelopment Agency meeting in November. It’s back before the CRA board—meaning the city council—on Monday. It comes as Boca tries to finalize rules on design of downtown projects.
Out of that meeting and staff research could come recommendations for changes. Ahnell said the city will seek input from, among others, “architects, urban design professionals, planners, developers, citizens, etc.” The meeting will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Boca Raton Community Center just west of City Hall.
Still picking over iPIc
All those questions about the iPic project from members of the Delray Beach Site Plan Review Advisory Board obviously have not been resolved.
The questions arose at the board’s meeting last month. The hope was to get a revised plan back before the board at its meeting on Tuesday. The meeting agenda, however, does not include Fourth and Fifth Delray. The board meets next on Jan. 27.
A two-week delay might seem minimal, assuming that iPic representatives and city staffers can agree by then on questions about traffic and parking. A prolonged delay, though, would push back the project’s return visit to the city commission and the timetable for appeals if the commission gives final approval. IPic has been hoping to obtain a building permit this year.
About the Author
Randy Schultz was born in Hartford, Conn., and graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1974. He has lived in South Florida since then, and in Boca Raton since 1985. Schultz spent nearly 40 years in daily journalism at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, most recently as editorial page editor at the Post. His wife, Shelley, is director of The Learning Network at Pine Crest School. His son, an attorney, and daughter-in-law and three grandchildren also live in Boca Raton. His daughter is a veterinarian who lives in Baltimore.
