University professors are demanding an apology from the University following an “egregious violation” of faculty rights and academic freedom.Biology professor and researcher Dominique Homberger was pulled from teaching a BIOL 1001 section for reasons of which she hasn’t been fully informed. Homberger said she inferred the cause to be a high drop rate and low class average.She was removed immediately after administering the second of four scheduled exams for the course. Once Homberger was removed, the first exam’s grades were raised 25 percent by her replacement instructor Bill Wischusen, Homberger said.Wischusen said the University doesn’t have a standard for grades in an introductory biology class, but the curve was based on what he thought students deserved for the work they had done.Homberger said she received a message from the College of Basic Sciences Dean Kevin Carman while the second exam was being administered. The message said she had been removed from the course because of a “developing situation concerning student grades.”Carman took full responsibility for the decision and said he has no intention of apologizing for it.”Seventy-five percent of the students were failing, and fewer than 8 percent of students had grade ‘C’ or better,” Carman said. “The number of students failing the course was out of line with that class in any history. Therefore I took action because I felt it was in the best interest of the students.”Carman said 27.8 percent of students had dropped the class. Homberger, who has taught at the University for more than 30 years, said the average grade for the course was a 53 following the first exam, but raised to a 77 following the second exam.Low scores on the first exam are typical, but the scores then improve throughout semester, Homberger said. She said she was removed before scores for the second test were determined.The University’s Chapter of the American Association of University Professors concluded Monday that Homberger’s removal and the changing of the grades is an egregious violation of academic freedom and guidelines in the Faculty Handbook.”Academic freedom is valued but has to be weighed against the interest of the students,” Carman said. “So I made the decision I felt was best for the students.”Determining and assigning the grade for each student enrolled in the course is the right and responsibility of the instructor, according to the LSU Faculty Handbook.The AAUP demanded an apology to the entire University faculty and assurance such a violation will not happen again, University AAUP President Brooks Ellwood wrote in a letter to System President John Lombardi.The association agreed at the meeting not to demand reinstatement to the class because of the negative effect on the students in the course.Homberger’s situation isn’t the only academic controversy in which the University is embroiled.The national chapter of the AAUP announced an investigation into alleged infringements into academic freedom in the case of Ivor van Heerden, the embattled University researcher, former professor and former director of the Hurricane Center. Homberger’s situation could be investigated with van-Heerden’s, the AAUP said in a letter to the chancellor.University Spokesperson Ernie Ballard said the University won’t comment on either situation.–Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]