The Administration argued that if the men were promoted to associate professors, they would subsequently have to be promoted to full professors, with an accompanying salary increase, and that the University's finances wouldn't allow this. The opposition rebutted with the suggestion that the men be promoted to associate professors, which would involve only a small salary increase, and that they not be promised full professorships, but be allowed to stay on as "frozen" associate professors.
Eventually the Faculty voted that in cases where teaching standards would otherwise be "seriously impaired," frozen associate professorships should be created, and that the ten assistant professors should not be excluded from consideration for these posts.
The Faculty breathed a sigh of relief, and began staying away from meetings by hundreds.
But none of the ten assistant professors got frozen associate professorships. One, Theodore Spencer, was given a regular associate professorship in the English Department, though it was difficult to figure out why the Department, too poor to keep Spencer only a few months before, now could affard the luxury of another full-blown old-style associate professorship. Most of the rest packed up and left last June.
Houghton and Potter Terminate
One of the ten, Walter Houghton, assistant professor of English, is rounding out the last year of his two-year terminating appointment. The man with whom he is at present bracketed in the History and Literature row is John Potter, assistant professor of History, who is not one of the original ten, but received his terminating appointment last year.
These two men can theoretically be retained if their departments find that their dismissal seriously impairs teaching standards in their fields. They can be retained as frozen associates, a procedure which does not violate the "up or out" policy adopted two years ago.
That they will be retained is very doubtful in view of the fact that the Administration has been very sparing in its frozen appointments, and has never openly reversed itself on a tenure issue because of student pressure