Leaving Dartmouth after 11 years as a visiting history professor, Ronald Edsforth simply tells people he has been made "redundant." Although he was not fired, Edsforth will not return to Dartmouth next year, because there are no classes left for him to teach.
Many of Edsforth's students and colleagues, meanwhile, lament his being forced to leave Dartmouth.
The history department renewed Edsforth's one-year visiting contract annually, relying on him to teach courses made available by full-time faculty who were away or on sabbatical.
"For all these years, history has always had courses to keep me employed," Edsforth said.
But new hires in the history department and more faculty present on campus leave no room for Edsforth next year, given College policies about courses full-time faculty must teach and the number of courses allotted to the history department.
Edsforth was also responsible for making the war and peace studies program more visible and popular. He served as the program's coordinator and as the instructor of the core course for the war and peace studies minor.
According to Edsforth, public programming for war and peace studies was taking up so much of his time that he "needed a break." He agreed with then- Dickey Center director Michael Mastanduno that he would step down as coordinator, despite his desire to continue teaching the war and peace studies course.
Mastanduno later decided without consulting the war and peace studies steering committee that Allan Stam, whom Mastanduno had appointed to succeed Edsforth as coordinator of the program, would teach the course next year.
Some have speculated that this decision reflects a shift in ideology from Edsforth's liberal views -- including his opposition to the Iraq war -- to Stam's more conservative leanings. Mastanduno, however, denied that politics entered into his decision.
"My selection is based not on politics but on expertise," Mastanduno said. "It would be hard to imagine someone more appropriate [than Stam] given his scholarly record."
"If I were looking to change the politics of the program, I was Dickey director for five years. I would've done it long before I left," he added.
According to Mastanduno, now Associate Dean of the Social Sciences, the coordinator of the war and peace studies program usually teaches the core course for the minor. Although Stam is teaching the course next year, future decisions have not yet been made.
Fellow American history professor Annelise Orleck said the entire history department is upset about Edsforth's situation.
"Certainly Ron has been a tremendously positive and exciting force in our department," Orleck said. "All of us would love to keep him and would do anything we can."
Edsforth's students were also disappointed when they learned the news.
"He's one of the best professors at Dartmouth," Student Body President Janos Marton '04 said. "He's an incredible lecturer, and he cares a lot about his students."
According to Marton, who took two classes with Edsforth, 40 of Edsforth's former students have banded together to find a way to reinstate the well-liked professor.
Currently Edsforth is hoping to find work for next year.
"This development as a whole has been unexpected, demoralizing and a bit frightening, since there are very few jobs in the country as a whole for full professors in American history," Edsforth said.
"What I want most of all is simply to stay at Dartmouth. I love teaching at Dartmouth. I love my students, and the experience I have in the classroom with them," he added.
