Several months after the abrupt departure of Assistant International Relations (IR) Director John Jenke, students are still in the dark regarding the reasons for his dismissal. The department and the University, while not answering any questions about Jenke's departure, have moved to fill the vacancy that was left after the April termination.
Meanwhile, Jenke has filed a grievance with the University. While it is certainly commendable that Tufts has so quickly filled the position that was left vacant, the fact that questions from students have been answered barely, if at all, by officials is troubling.
Jenke's abrupt departure left many students in varying forms of distress. Many IR majors lost an advisor and had to scramble to find a new one as the academic year was quickly drawing to a close. The confusion was compounded by the three-day delay between when he was dismissed and when students were informed of his absence. Jenke also served as an advisor for Hemispheres, the undergraduate journal of international relations at the University.
Perhaps the more important point at issue here is not whether or not John Jenke should still be here, but why students have not received more information from the administration regarding his departure. There are legal and ethical constraints on the amount of information that Tufts can give regarding the departure of an employee, but students are entitled to more openness when a departure sharply affects their academic lives.
To this end, the response by the IR department and the University administration to student and media inquiries does not meet a high enough standard. A recent e-mail campaign by students to President Larry Bacow and Provost Jamshed Bharucha apparently fell on deaf ears, with the two top administrators on the Hill neglecting to send even a simple response to many inquiries. While this is not the first problem students have had communicating with Ballou, it certainly seems that Bacow or Bharucha could do more for students that have been left without either an advisor or a reason.
The announcement of new leadership for the IR department is a sign that department leaders wish to move beyond the issues involving Jenke. While it is true that there are pressing concerns for IR majors that a new director and assistant director will help to resolve, it is also true that it will be difficult to replace Jenke's years of experience and rapport with students.
The world class IR program at this university depends on the hard work of people like Jenke. Students, meanwhile, depend on getting good information from the administration when a wrench is thrown into their academic wheels.
In the future, one would hope that Ballou will do a better job communicating with students and responding to concerns.
