By What was intended to be a grassroots movement has turned into a bizarre marketing campaign.
On the corner of Bellflower Boulevard and Stearns Street sits a bus stop decorated with an advertisement for a petition and the hashtag “#studentsfortomlin.”
The advertisement urges students to visit change.org and petition CSULB Dean of the College of Business Administration Michael Solt to allow marketing professor Michael Tomlin to teach a 300-level class.
According to Solt, Tomlin was assigned to teach the 300-level marketing class before the fall semester. Tomlin said he had been teaching the course for 12 years.
Before the semester began, however, Tomlin learned via email that marketing professor Ingrid Martin would teach the course instead.
CSULB alumna Brittany Meinstarted the petition to restore Tomlin to the class.
“If it wasn’t for Tomlin, I wouldn’t be where I am right now,” Meinhardt said.
While we can understand why a professor like Tomlin would be upset over losing a class he has taught for so long, we think the campaign to restore him is plagued by several issues.
According to Solt, the reason for the class change was because Martin needed to teach a certain number of units. Because she was not re-elected as chair of the marketing department, Martin was obligated by her tenure status to teach at least 12 units again as a full-time professor.
We wonder why anyone would be so upset over Tomlin’s class change when it was done to help Martin fulfill her obligation as a full-time professor.
Campaigning to restore Tomlin to the class when Martin hasn’t even had the opportunity to teach one full semester is unfair.
We also question the legitimacy of the “#studentsfortomlin” campaign.
If this issue is really upsetting for students and alumni, those people should speak up. But right now, it seems like the only person pushing the “#studentsfortomlin” campaign is Tomlin himself.
Is this really a grassroots movement by students and alumni or should the advertisement actually read “#tomlinfortomlin?”
“When you’re replacing someone who has an expansive background in the field … with somebody who just decides to fulfill her workload but has never worked for an agency … you’d be doing a disservice to the students,” Tomlin said.
It seems the real disservice to students is the petition started by Meinhardt.
Even if enough signatures are gathered, it’s unclear if the petition can force Solt to restore Tomlin into the 300-level marketing class.
We wonder if this issue is part of a larger disagreement in the marketing department. It’s hard to say, though, when we’ve heard only Tomlin speak out against the department.
If there is an ongoing problem in the department, more faculty and students need to voice their opinions on the subject.
With only 381 signatures and six tweets as of Sunday, the “#studentsfortomlin” campaign looks more like a cloud of smoke than an actual fire.
