Limerick, arguably the most prominent historian of the American West in the country, is the Center‘s co-founder and has run it for thirty-six years.
Here is Jason Blevins at The Colorado Sun:
Patty Limerick, an iconic professor, author and scholar whose Center of the American West at the University of Colorado has helped shape and guide Colorado’s cultural identity for nearly 37 years, has been fired from the center she founded.
An email sent to supporters of the center Wednesday announced that the center’s annual “Fandango” fundraising event set for Oct. 7 was canceled because Limerick had been “unexpectedly removed” from her role as faculty director and board chair for the Center of the American West.
“The Fandango is a celebration of the center and its work,” read the announcement. “There is little to celebrate at the moment.”
The announcement urged the center’s supporters — a heavyweight list of donors and Colorado luminaries — to contact the new dean of CU’s College of Arts and Sciences, Glen Krutz, with any thoughts or concerns about the center’s leadership.
Krutz directed inquiries to the school’s media team. A spokesman said the university does not discuss personnel issues.
“At this point I can only say this: My removal from the position of faculty director of the Center of the American West was very unexpected,” Limerick said in a text message. “I am considering my options.”
Friends said she was fired from her work at the center Sept. 23. She remains a full-tenured professor at CU.
Two sources who have spoken with Limerick said a staffer she had hired at the center had logged complaints against her and those complaints were investigated and dismissed by the university. Friends said Limerick was shocked by the firing.
“I would say this is a great failure of leadership at the highest level,” said Bill Reynolds, who was hosting the Fandango gala at his home and has served on the center’s board. “The biggest losers here are the students. Everyone who knew Patty benefited from her knowledge. I think the system is not working and the leadership has failed the students and failed the university’s supporters.”
Two years after Limerick joined the faculty at CU Boulder in 1984, she co-founded the Center of the American West, creating a forum to better explore often volatile public issues. The center, with its books, films and lecture series, has helped form and solidify the cultural identity of the West.
“She has the ability to bring people together, including people who disagree with each other, and I think that is what really sets the center apart from other entities,” said Aaron Harber, a longtime Colorado political talk show host and supporter of the center who also serves as a commissioner for the Colorado Department of Higher Education.
Harber said he was “absolutely shocked” to hear of Limerick’s removal from the center. He made sure to say he had no insight into the reason for her firing, but he hopes more information comes out quickly before readers or outsiders mistakenly assign some sort of failure to Limerick.
“I just can’t imagine Patty having done anything wrong that cannot be rectified,” Harber said. “If she did make some kind of serious mistake, I can’t imagine there was not a path to address it in a satisfactory manner.”
Read the entire piece here. Blevins is also reporting that the entire executive committee of the Center’s board has resigned in protest over Limerick’s firing.
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