On August 27, 2025, an unwitnessed meeting took place at John Cabot University (JCU) between myself and the Vice President of Academics, Prof. Dr. Mary Merva.
During that meeting, I was offered a permanent teaching-only contract, the standard contract known at JCU as the "regime change". This contract was offered indiscriminately to former freelance lecturers, regardless of whether they had doctoral degrees and/or were actively engaged in research. It was however conditional on signing a conciliation report, a de facto liability waiver for the period we worked as freelance lecturers (paid for teaching, but providing service and in some cases research for free, under the explicit threat of no longer being offered teaching assignments).
When the "regime change" offer was made to me it was also conditional on producing unpaid research publications sufficient to meet the requirements of the accreditation standards of JCU's Business programme. I accepted the teaching-only offer but requested additional compensation for published research, given that the standard teaching-only contract had been offered to lecturers not (some never) actively involved in research.
I was told I will receive a formal answer from the Dean.
In the months that followed, the university neither confirmed nor denied the content of the February 27, 2025 meeting, acknowledging only that the meeting had occurred. The teaching-only offer (the "regime change" contract) was issued formally on July 31, 2025, a day after I wrote a letter addressed to members of the Board of Trustees and asked JCU's Chief of Staff to contact them on my behalf.
The content of my letter (now publicly available at https://tinyurl.com/ruat-caelum) remains, to date, officially unacknowledged.
On August 6, 2025, I asked the Vice President of Academics, Prof. Dr. Mary Merva, in the presence of the Dean of Academics, Prof. Dr. Stefano Arnone, whether the conduct of John Cabot University in my case was in compliance with the standards of "Ethics and Integrity" upheld by both of JCU’s accrediting bodies, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) and the Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).
Vice President of Academics, Prof. Dr. Mary Merva's answer was that the accrediting bodies only issue suggestions and recommendations.
Vice President of Academics, Prof. Dr. Mary Merva declined to answer my questions regarding the liabilities that the university aimed to extinguish by conditioning the contract offer on my signing a conciliation report for the the years I served JCU as a freelance lecturer.
On August 8, 2025, President of John Cabot University, Dr. Franco Pavoncello revoked the offer (during the 10 days period allotted to me to evaluate it) on the grounds that I objected to the inclusion in my contractual areas of specialisation of a field I have never taught or have been instructed in, specifically "Quantitative Methods". Vice President of Academics, Prof. Dr. Mary Merva and Dean of Academics, Prof. Dr. Stefano Arnone justified this forceful extension of my areas of specialisation from Economics and Finance, based on the fact that as a freelance lecturer I had taught a course of "Calculus for Business" for two semesters, after which I categorically refused that assignment.
@John Cabot University Why do you choose to remain silent?
