After a period of uncertainty that attracted large levels of student attention, Interim Provost Marty Krauss approved Professor Angela Prez, (ROCL) for tenure on Tuesday, April 15.Prez, a native of Colombia and member of the Brandeis faculty for six years, teaches Spanish literature courses and has also been involved with AHORA!, the Brandeis Latino organization.

Earlier this semester, Prez passed successfully through the first two stages of the standard procedure for tenure appointment - gaining unanimous approval from a departmental committee and an ad hoc review committee. The ad hoc committee contains three Brandeis faculty members from a different department within the same school of the university, one Brandeis faculty member from another school, and two faculty members from other universities in the same, or a closely related, academic discipline.

These committees reviewed Prez's achievement in three areas: scholarship, teaching and service, as measured by student evaluations, an up-to-date curriculum vitae, published work, letters of recommendation from faculty outside of Brandeis, service to the Brandeis community, and more.

The next step in the official procedure was approval by the Dean of Arts and Sciences. At this point in Professor Prez's case, Dean Jessie Ann Owens overturned the two previous committees' opinion and did not grant approval for tenure.

During the few weeks between Owen's decision and the next phase - review by the Provost - many students rallied around the cause of securing tenure for Prez.

Danielle Nudelman '03, a Spanish UDR, explained: "Students aren't really involved in the process, so we thought it was important to show our side of it.... We thought it was important that they be aware." Administrators, she added, are not in the classroom and therefore do not see Prez's extreme dedication and skill as a professor.

Students noted that no professors or other authorities urged them students to fight for this cause; they said they acted of their own volition under the sincere belief that Prez deserved tenure.

Due to the extremely confidential nature of the process, students were not given the reasoning behind the department, the ad hoc committee's or Dean Owens' decision. Nudelman said they tried to learn as much as possible, but authorities "were very careful to tell us that they couldn't give us any specific information."

The same confidentiality limited the comments available to the Justice, as Owens declined to comment altogether and Krauss was able to give only general statements. Students, however, were more free to describe their involvement.

Both individuals and groups, including Prez's current and former students, AHORA! and the Student Union government wrote letters of appeal to the administration. Krauss estimated that she received about 20 to 25 letters, with close to 40 student signatures in total, as well as letters from professors inside and outside of Brandeis.

Krauss said: "(The letters) described, often with great articulateness and passion, (students') experiences with (Perez) as a professor. I was very moved by many of the letters."

"Students are wonderful about making their views known; they should do that. They have a stake in the University, in all issues that affect them," she added. "We want students to weigh in on the issues that affect them. They are why we're here."

Though Krauss decided not to meet with students in person, Nudelman and Jeremy Goren '03 met with John Hose, executive assistant to the president, and representatives from AHORA! met with Reinharz.

Students also communicated with the administration through Ebone Bishop '03, undergraduate representative to the Board of Trustees. Bishop wrote a letter to the Board that highlighted Prez's excellent student reviews and reiterated the fact that two committees had already approved her. "The ad hoc committee," Bishop stressed in later conversation, "is peers at the top of her field. If they gave her a positive review, on what basis was she denied by the dean?"

"I've gotten so much student demand, and I trust my student constituents," Bishop said. "The facts are overwhelming. I personally believe she should get tenure." Outlining Prez's commitment to AHORA, her visible participation in Brandeis activities such as Culture X, and her presence as a faculty representative at many open houses, Bishop added: "She has gone above and beyond the call of duty, and actually taken a vested interest in the Brandeis community."

The Executive Board of the Student Union, in its letter to Provost Krauss, said it recognized that students are not in the place to judge Prez's "professional scholarship," but sought instead to highlight "excellence in teaching, fostering campus community, enriching student life and personal mentoring." These qualities, said the E-board, "are difficult to formally measure and are often underweighted in the tenure process."

This letter also raised the issue of diversity. Prez, they said, is one of the "few women of color on faculty," and therefore "serves as an invaluable role model for students of color."

Along these lines, Prez is currently one of only two native Spanish speakers who teach upper-level Spanish courses. Non-native speakers, said Goren, do not have quite the same expertise of "colloquialisms and accents. You really lose something without (exposure to a native speaker) ... It helps to have someone from the community we're learning about."

Students' arguments mainly emphasized how Prez cares deeply about her students. "She's incredibly concerned with her students and our ideas ... She's come to me to ask about student opinion of classes and student opinion in general," Nudelman said. Goren added that Prez has formed close relationships with individual students, acting as a mentor to anyone who seeks her help.

Sarah Light '05, a member of the AHORA! and Intercultural Center executive boards, also wrote a letter to Krauss. Light said that as a native Spanish speaker, she initially had little experience formally reading and writing Spanish, but Prez "was extremely patient with my struggle to learn the basics of a college-level language class." If not for Prez, Light said she "might have given up on the Spanish major out of frustration."

Light also discussed Prez's contribution to AHORA!. Last fall, for example, Prez helped AHORA! bring to campus the writer and director of "The Blue Diner," a Boston-based film about a Latino community.

In light of the strong student support for Prez, one might wonder if the students affected Krauss' reversal of Owens' decision. To address this, Krauss said: "I took a very deep look at all the evidence relating to the three criteria on which these decisions were made." She did not, however, explain, the specific impact of students' arguments, as she was bound by confidentiality regarding details of the deliberation.

Krauss said she hopes people realize that "these are very complicated and consequential decisions." This, she said, is why tenure appointment is "a very long process that has multiple layers. It's a real sequence of events - the reason for that is to ensure that the University makes the best possible decision," Krauss continued.

To finalize Prez's tenure approval, President Reinharz must concur with Krauss recommendation. Krauss said that Reinharz does indeed concur.

Summarizing the rationale for her approval, Krauss said, "(Prez) clearly plays an important role in the University; we really respect the role that she plays.