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James McDermid
James McDermid was an associate professor of sculpture and printmaking at Kirkland College, whose non-reappointment in 1974 triggered a significant controversy about faculty governance and student participation.
Key Documented Appearances
Non-reappointment controversy (1973–74): McDermid was not reappointed for fall 1974 despite overwhelmingly positive student evaluations. President Babbitt upheld the Arts Division Personnel Committee’s recommendation over student objections. The Spectator editorial argued that the episode showed “the idea of community and communications, a keystone of the Kirkland philosophy” had been “apparently ignored.” Students argued for non-voting student representation on future appointments and reappointments committees.
The McDermid case crystallized tensions between Kirkland College’s founding philosophy — which emphasized student participation in institutional governance — and the practical authority of faculty governance bodies over personnel decisions. It is one of the clearest documented examples of this philosophical tension in the pre-merger era. (The Spectator, January 18, 1974)
Context
McDermid’s case occurred during the Samuel F. Babbitt presidency at Kirkland, approximately four years before the Hamilton-Kirkland merger of 1978. It is an important episode for understanding the governance culture that the merger had to reconcile.