After being fired from his English teaching position for taking an unauthorized field trip with his detective fiction class earlier in the semester, graduate Arts and Sciences student Justin Gifford is back in the game, gearing up to serve as a teaching assistant for Shakespeare II next semester.
In early October, Gifford was dismissed from his position after he and 23 of his students were arrested for trespassing during a Sept. 23 field trip to an abandoned building owned by the University Foundation. The charges subsequently were dropped Sept. 28.
Because graduate students receive their teaching assignments for both the fall and spring semesters before the school year begins, Gifford said he already was set to teach a section of the Shakespeare course before the incident occurred.
After he was fired, Gifford said the administration told him he would be able to occupy the position in the spring if he met certain conditions, which he said were "very vague" and not clearly spelled out at the time of his dismissal.
Gifford said he was informed just last week that in order to be permitted to teach next semester, he must write a position paper that summarized his perspective on the events leading up to Sept. 23, which will be archived at the teaching resource center for future reference by faculty and administrators.
"I feel it's actually a good opportunity for me to explain my position in a clear and coherent way," Gifford said. "I'm actually kind of looking forward to doing it."
English Department Chair Gordon Braden could not be reached for comment at press time yesterday.
Associate English Department Chair Stephen Arata said he could not comment on specifics of the decision-making process because he was not directly involved in it, but said the English Department formed a committee shortly after Gifford's dismissal to outline a specific procedure by which to evaluate him for future teaching positions.
Gifford said he does not think his future students will react negatively to having him as a teaching assistant.
"I never worry about how students are going to feel because I know I have their undying support," he said, adding that he has received numerous e-mails requesting to be in his discussion section next semester. "It's actually been a booster for my popularity."
English Prof. Katharine Maus, who is teaching the Shakespeare course next semester, said she does not have a problem with Gifford serving as one of her teaching assistants.
"It's fine with me," Maus said. "They asked me if I had any objection and I said 'no' because I've always heard that he's a good teacher."
Maus also said she did not have any objection to working with Gifford because in her mind, his failure to properly secure permission for the field trip was not a "major ethical violation."
"I was not really following the whole controversy all that closely, but it did seem like he hadn't done anything that struck me as unethical, which would have bothered me," she said.
Maus also said she does not anticipate any potential problems with Gifford's future students harboring ill-will for him as a result of the incident.
"I was assuming that, from what I read in the papers, students were really supportive of him because he's a good teacher," she said. "I'm happy to have good teachers in my class."
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