The Anoka-Ramsey administration abruptly pulled popular chemistry instructor Kevin Roesselet from all classes mid-semester and replaced him with full-time faculty members.
Lizzie Babashova, Staff Writer Additional reporting by Jess Lueck, Copy Editor
March 16 was Kevin Roesselet’s last day teaching his students, 10 weeks into the 18-week spring semester. Roesselet had worked at Anoka-Ramey for seven years. The rest of the chemistry faculty, including Lund Lance, Patty Pieper and Christopher Lutz, took over his classes. These professors already have a full course load.
Roesselet was relieved of his teaching duties because of issues related to his sabbatical work in the fall of 2016.
Roesselet’s chemistry students appear to be the most affected due to the disruption of their course. Chemistry is already difficult enough without having to worry about whether or not your instructor will be your instructor for the whole semester, according to Sergey Babashov, one of Roesselet’s students.
Student reaction “We suffered in the sense that you can’t switch up the professor for a class on students halfway through the semester and expect them to perform the way they were going to,” said Babashov. “I’ve heard professors themselves say that you might not get a good grade on my first exam because you don’t understand my grading style, but the second and third one you should be getting the hang of it.”
Because of the change in professors, the students were left to try and understand a new instructor’s grading style after they had already completed the first two exams with Roesselet. The consequence being the students going through the process of learning a new teaching and grading style, halfway through the semester. This may cause the students to not perform as well as they could have on those last two exams.
According to Roesselet’s students, there’s no current plan for Roesselet’s courses to be curved due to the disruption.
“We’re not getting any consideration for the situation, even though it’s affecting us the most,” said another student of Roesselet’s, Greg Jameston.
According to the students, these full-time faculty, who already have a full course load to tackle for the semester, are now over-worked and stressed out.
“If instructors are expected to give 100 percent to their classes, what’s left for them to give when they pile on all these extra classes,” said Jameston.
Babashov said that the situation has impacted the students’ view of the school and the process in removing his chemistry instructor was “very irresponsible.”
“We’ve been completely derailed. Kevin was there for us all the time,” said Jameston. “You could walk by his office and it didn’t matter if he had people in there, you could join in. And we don’t have that anymore. We have closed doors and we have unavailable professors. We have no time and we have nobody to ask.”
Babashov said he doesn’t understand why the administration couldn’t wait until the end of the semester to act on the results of the investigation.
“I mean it’s just the fact that they didn’t at least wait until the end of the semester to do something is I think is where the real negligence is in this situation,” said Babashov.
This situation has left these students with a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to Anoka-Ramsey.
“I’ve been in school for eight years at different colleges and universities and I’ve definitely never experienced anything like this,” said a student of Roesselet’s who asked to remain anonymous. “It just makes me think, why would I want to go to a school without consistency in my professor for a class when I have so many other options out there?”
The administration decision
Like Babashova, another student questioned the actions of the Anoka-Ramsey administration in removing Roesselet.
“It just seems like they [the administration] have a different agenda other than making sure we succeed,“ said another student of Roesselet’s who asked to remain anonymous.
Roesselet took a sabbatical during the 2016 fall semester. When Mary Johnson, the STEM dean, and Deidra Peaslee, the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs, reviewed Roesselet’s sabbatical report, they came to the conclusion that it did not meet the requirements expected.
This resulted in an investigation into his work and Roesselet being pulled from his classes.
According to students who spoke with Roesselet briefly before he left, Roesselet didn’t complete his outlined plan because of an unspecified illness that occurred during the sabbatical leave.
“My understanding is that it has nothing to do with anything that’s happened this semester, that’s it’s all about events from the fall semester,” said Jim Biederman, the grievance representative for the faculty union.
So why wasn’t action delayed? Why weren’t the best interest of the students kept in mind?
“It doesn’t really say anything about the timing of discipline in our contract. So I don’t know if it’s a policy with Minnesota State or if it’s just a general rule of thumb in human resources,” said Biederman.
Peaslee offered little detail in explaining the timing of the instructor’s removal.
“If it is determined that a faculty member did not complete their sabbatical as outlined, it then becomes a personnel matter which follows the investigatory process for employees of the State of Minnesota,” said Peaslee over e-mail.
When pressed further for information on Roesselet’s case Peaslee responded by e-mail.
“I appreciate your concern about specific cases, however information about specific individuals or situations are protected as outlined by the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. I am unable to provide additional information,” Peaslee said.
The Campus Eye reached out to Johnson for comment but she declined to answer any questions.
“I understand you have been communicating with Deidra Peaslee as well and she has provided the process for sabbatical to you,” Johnson said over e-mail.
Only one of the questions The Campus Eye asked Johnson was in regards to the sabbatical process. Johnson was presented multiple questions inquiring about the timing of the discipline, who made the decision, and if the administration had any plans to curve the grades for Roesselet’s chemistry students. None of the questions were answered by Johnson.
The sabbatical process Full-time faculty are eligible to apply for a sabbatical once every seven years. The application is done during the academic year prior to the proposed sabbatical, according to Biederman. The sabbatical application is a plan for what the faculty member is going to be working on during the semester or the year that they’re gone instead of teaching classes.
Some faculty will work on developing new classes or new curriculum to incorporate into their existing classes. They can also take classes of their own at another college or university. They can also research, write, or travel. What the faculty member plans to do depends on the academic field of the faculty member.
“It’s like an alternative assignment where we complete our sabbatical project instead of teaching for one or two semesters,” said Biederman. “For most faculty, the payment during sabbatical is full salary for a one-semester sabbatical and 80 percent salary for a two-semester sabbatical.”
Once the faculty member returns from their sabbatical leave, they are required to submit a sabbatical report where the faculty member documents what was completed during the leave, according to Biederman.
Members of the college administration review the report. This includes the faculty member’s dean (in Roesselet’s case this would be Johnson) as well as Peaslee. The administration’s job is to review the report and verify that the faculty member completed what was outlined in the initial sabbatical application.
The instructor’s response Biederman sent an e-mail to Roesselet explaining that a story was being written by The Campus Eye about what happened and included an e-mail address that Roesselet could contact so he could make a statement about the situation. No reply was received by The Campus Eye.
On April 10, Biederman contacted the Campus Eye and said, “My understanding is that Kevin submitted a letter of resignation last week, so, if this is accurate, his final status at the college would be a voluntary separation.”
The Campus Eye reached out to Jay Nelson, the director of Human Resources, for confirmation on Roesselet’s resignation, but no reply was received.
Conflict of interest acknowledgement. The reporter is related to a source in this story. The editor and adviser determined a minimal conflict of interest because the source’s information was verified by multiple people and the source had no input into the final story.