The grievance filed by Slippery Rock University’s former provost, vice president of academic affairs and chief academic officer has been denied.

Abbey Zink said earlier this week that the grievance regarding her employment status at the institution, filed by the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties on her behalf, was denied by the university.

Zink’s removal from SRU’s provost position was announced April 4, with an announcement that Michael Zieg would serve as acting provost. On May 19 Zieg was further promoted to interim provost for the 2022-23 academic year.

Upon her dismissal, Zink said it was unclear whether or not she remained an SRU employee.

“Whether I am a Slippery Rock University employee is, unfortunately, a matter of dispute, although it shouldn’t be,” she said in a May 6 statement.

She said her employment status at SRU shouldn’t be debatable, given she was hired as a tenured professor of English in 2019.

Her statement claimed the SRU English department has several open positions, and that she should have assumed a tenured position following her removal from the provost role.

Zink recalled the day of her dismissal and the events that followed.

After returning to campus following a trip on April 4, she attended meetings with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) about two external investigations. Shortly after, Zink said she was called to human resources in the Old Main building.

Waiting for her was SRU President William Behre with two envelopes, she said.

“After I talked to PASSHE and expressed concern about retaliation, there was the president and HR director,” she said.

According to Zink, Behre informed her she was being removed as provost and had two options: to take a temporary position and resign in two months, or be fired for cause.

“I could resign and sign away everything, or be fired,” she said. “When I asked later what the cause was, the HR director said she didn’t put the letter together and didn’t know.”

Zink said she would not sign anything without an attorney, and that she wanted union representation. To this, she said Behre informed her that she didn’t have a tenured position and could not have union representation.

According to Zink’s offer letter, when she was hired at the university in 2019, she signed to have a position in the English Department at the institution.

“You will be assigned the rank of professor in the English Department in the event you are placed in a faculty position,” the letter states. “If this occurs, you will have the status of a tenured faculty member.”

Zink did cover a class for that department during her time on campus, and she questioned the status of her tenure again, she said.

“At that point, the president got so worked up (the HR director) asked him to leave,” she said.

Zink was then asked to collect a few personal items from her office and was escorted out of the building.

“It felt like a perp walk,” she said.

On April 5, Zink said she was told by human resources that she had until April 6 to pick between the offers Behre presented.

“I had contacted an attorney, and they said legally I had 21 days to respond,” Zink said. “My attorney tried to negotiate. If I signed the release, I was resigning totally from the university, so I couldn’t file grievances as faculty.”

Zink added in the view of her her attorney, James Lieber, the separation offers were illegal.

On April 25, Zink sent in her resignation from the provost position to PASSHE and SRU. In it, she said she looked forward to serving as a faculty member in the English Department.

“It was forced resignation under duress,” she said. “And on (April) 26, I got a letter from the president saying he doesn’t accept my resignation, and you’re fired ... essentially.”

In Behre’s letter, he said it was in SRU’s best interest to “terminate (her) services.”

“This action is necessitated by my loss of confidence in your ability to lead your division,” he said.

The letter also stated Zink communicated personnel complaints outside of the proper authorities, to which Zink said she didn’t know what that was in reference to.

When the Butler Eagle requested an interview with Behre regarding the statement Zink released, Robb King, chief communication and public affairs officer, said SRU did not comment on such matters.

“Please know that the University doesn’t comment on personnel matters,” King said via email.

Zink said the issues at SRU are bigger than her.

“If I don’t have tenure, neither do other leaders in the university,” she said. “I do have tenure, and I should have been returned to the faculty.”

In the statement she released May 6, Zink said the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties filed a grievance on her behalf, and her status at the university is unknown.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Zink said the grievance was denied and that she no longer was an employee of SRU.

According to Jason Hilton, president of the Slippery Rock chapter of the association, grievances could be denied for multiple reasons.

“When a grievance is filed, it suggests that a specific university administration has engaged in a practice that violates the collective bargaining agreement between PASSHE and APSCUF,“ he said in a written statement. “There are many reasons grievances can be denied.

“One is management can claim there was different contract language used in the contract than the grievance claim.”

Zink said from her understanding, the grievance wording may have been the cause of its denial.

Hilton added that denials usually come from the institution, not the state level.

“Grievances are almost always denied at the local university level by the local university management,” he said “Once they rise to the state-level conversation, they can be settled by agreement, arbitrated for settlement, or they can be denied by PASSHE, by state-level APSCUF, or by both parties in agreement.”

Zink said she had, and continues to have, a number of concerns regarding the university and that she made them known.

“I elevated concerns related to whether we were doing our best — not the bare minimum or temporary patches — to serve students and to solve these issues,” she said in her statement to The Rocket.

Her concerns were similar to those of former Cabinet member Amir Mohammadi, who asked for an investigation regarding the financial stability of the university. Mohammadi was dismissed April 20 after the results of the forensic review came out.

According to Zink, Mohammadi and herself shared these concerns with the university independently.

“(Mohammadi) and I were the two highest ranking Cabinet members and had the deepest experience. We came to our conclusions independently. I had no idea he sent that email (in February),” she said.

One shared concern was in regard to the funding of the new Engineering Department.

“It’s whether they’re doing what’s best by the students and best for the university 10 years down the road,” Zink said. “Students pay an extra fee for their courses."

She added that the engineering faculty is excellent and does all they can to help the students succeed, but the lack of a planning culture will lead to millions of wasted dollars.

“There’s not a plan for finance, academics or facilities. SRU went into two big expenses at the same time,” said Zink of the college of health and engineering program. “And (SRU) added 25 new programs during seven years, basically all of them underfunded. It’s too much, too quickly, without enough resources and it’s all connected. Temporary fixes still cost millions of dollars. Numbers get tossed out and aren’t checked.”

Zink said she also requested an investigation into an amorous relationship that she said was occurring at a high level in the university. According to her, three Cabinet members also brought it to the attention of human resources and the president.

“We were all told they talked to the person, who said it was not happening. So there was never an investigation,” she said. “We have no idea if it’s true or not.”

With regard to PASSHE’S recent forensic review, which according to chancellor Dan Greenstein found “no evidence of wrongdoing,” at the university, Zink said it should be a public document. Citing personnel issues, PASSHE has declined to make results of the review public.

“I don’t understand the culture of secrecy saying it’s personnel related,” she said. “If it’s as clean as they say, they should be plastering it all over campus.”

Zink said she hopes the results of the allegations from Mohommadi and herself are actions taken toward the university’s planning process.

“What I hope comes from this is an opening of the books and demands from the council of trustees that the university produce an academic, financial and facilities plan that works together,” she said. “That there’s a future for the university.”