Spring Break
Protestant Chaplain felt unappreciated by admin
by Sri Kuehnlenz
News | 11/14/06
Posted online at 5:58 AM EST on 11/14/06
The Rev. Alice Brown-Collins, who served as the interim Protestant Chaplain beginning in 2001, said she left the University last May because she felt unappreciated by the administration.
In her letter of resignation to Senior Vice President of Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy, Brown-Collins wrote that she had not received a raise in five years and did not apply to be the Protestant chaplain "considering the insecurity of the past position."
Brown-Collins came to Brandeis in 1994 as a professor in the Afro-African American Studies Department and became the interim Protestant chaplain in 2001.
Brown-Collins declined to comment on her reasons for resigning, but said, "It is my hope that the religious life and the work of the Protestant chaplaincy will continue to go forward and continue to serve all students."
But she wrote in the letter obtained by The Justice that she had expected to be offered the position of Protestant chaplain. Instead, she was given the option of applying.
Eddy countered that Brown-Collins did not want the job. "She told me that she had no interest in applying for the position," Eddy wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. She said Brown-Collins resigned just before the search for a part-time Protestant chaplain began in May.
Eddy added that although Brown-Collins had in the past said she hoped to make her position permanent, after the administration "re-evaluated" the position and decided to reduce the chaplain's weekly hours from 17 to 10, Brown-Collins was no longer interested.
But Brown-Collins insisted in her letter that despite the change in hours, she had expected to be hired.
"There was no doubt in my mind, no matter the hours, that I would be appointed as Protestant chaplain," she wrote.
Kendra Harrison '07, a former pianist for the Protestant chapel, said Brown-Collins declined the offer to apply for the position because of the reduction in hours.
"She felt that she couldn't do the work she needed to do within that time period, so it was time for her to move on," Harrison said.
In her letter of resignation to Senior Vice President of Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy, Brown-Collins wrote that she had not received a raise in five years and did not apply to be the Protestant chaplain "considering the insecurity of the past position."
Brown-Collins came to Brandeis in 1994 as a professor in the Afro-African American Studies Department and became the interim Protestant chaplain in 2001.
Brown-Collins declined to comment on her reasons for resigning, but said, "It is my hope that the religious life and the work of the Protestant chaplaincy will continue to go forward and continue to serve all students."
But she wrote in the letter obtained by The Justice that she had expected to be offered the position of Protestant chaplain. Instead, she was given the option of applying.
Eddy countered that Brown-Collins did not want the job. "She told me that she had no interest in applying for the position," Eddy wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. She said Brown-Collins resigned just before the search for a part-time Protestant chaplain began in May.
Eddy added that although Brown-Collins had in the past said she hoped to make her position permanent, after the administration "re-evaluated" the position and decided to reduce the chaplain's weekly hours from 17 to 10, Brown-Collins was no longer interested.
But Brown-Collins insisted in her letter that despite the change in hours, she had expected to be hired.
"There was no doubt in my mind, no matter the hours, that I would be appointed as Protestant chaplain," she wrote.
Kendra Harrison '07, a former pianist for the Protestant chapel, said Brown-Collins declined the offer to apply for the position because of the reduction in hours.
"She felt that she couldn't do the work she needed to do within that time period, so it was time for her to move on," Harrison said.
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