To the editor:

We read with interest Dolph Simons Jr.’s Saturday Column supporting the Koch brothers’ blatant flouting of Kansas’ sunshine laws. The defender of the principle of academic freedom is the American Association of University Professors. There is a simple reason why the AAUP state conference and the Kansas University chapter staunchly support the KU administration’s adherence to Kansas’ sunshine laws: Director Hall is not a rank-and-file faculty member. He is an administrator. His position description and title are those of an administrator — containing not a single word related to teaching. As an administrator, his professional correspondence with external funding agents is subject to scrutiny by the people.

He has never been evaluated by faculty members according to standards of faculty performance because he is not faculty. He was a direct hire without a competitive search and no unit-level vetting. He is part of no department and answerable only to the next administrator higher up. He has served far more than the probationary seven years full-time and yet has not been forced to go up for tenure or leave — indicating definitively that he is an … administrator.

He has skillfully confused many by claiming “academic freedom” protections consistent with those earned by rank-and-file faculty, but he refuses to subject himself to the responsibilities of faculty status, which includes annual reviews by learned faculty. If anyone still erroneously believes that he is rank-and-file faculty, then ask: “When is his Kansas Board of Regents-mandated post-tenure review scheduled?” The answer, of course, will be: “never.” Indicating irrefutably that he is an … administrator.