A group of Hebrew students are fighting to keep their professor who might lose his job from a conflict between NIU scheduling policies and his personal needs.

About six students in Zidkiavh Chady’s Hebrew 102 and 202 classes plan to meet with Assistant Personnel Provost Frank Nowik Wednesday to air their concerns.

The group also plans to send a letter to university administrators signed by about 30 students enrolled in the Hebrew classes.

Chady has taught part time at NIU for 15 years through a contract with Spertus College of Judaica. For the past 30 semesters, he has taught two 100-minute classes on Mondays and Fridays.

But until he reinterviewed for the job April 16, Chady said he did not know the fall 1990 schedule was switched to four 50-minute classes each week. The new schedule would force him to commute from Chicago twice as often and give up other jobs.

“We certainly wanted to keep him,” said Marilyn Skinner, foreign languages and literatures department chairman. “But there was a trade-off involved here.” The department had to weigh having a regular schedule with Chady’s personal needs, she said.

The Hebrew 102 students oppose the schedule change because if Chady cannot teach the new hours, it would disrupt the continuity of the class. Also, the proposed afternoon hours would make it hard for older, commuting students to attend.

The schedule was changed for two reasons—to fit students who have been closed out of the class and to fulfill NIU scheduling policies, Skinner said.

Because both classes have met for four hours in during prime scheduling hours—9 a.m. to 2 p.m.—some students could not take the class, Skinner said. One-third of classes must not be scheduled in prime-time hours, she said.

Chady said half of his current students said they could not make the proposed hours. “If your program doesn’t serve them, they don’t need it,” he said.

“We’d like them to listen to the human factor involved,” said Hebrew 202 student Daniel Silverstein. The actions of the department are “very disrespectful, pulling the carpet out from under him,” he said.

Chady said he would give up his other jobs if NIU offered a full-time position, but only two Hebrew classes are offered each semester.

“They say ‘you are the best,’ but if you really believe I am te best, you’d do the best for me,” Chady said. “I’d be happy to continue with them until the last day of my life.”

Spertus College of Judaica, a Chicago-based school with about 100 students, had a contract with NIU allowing Chady to teach, but notified NIU in December it was breaking the contract, Skinner said.

James Norris, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said Spertus broke the contract with “plenty of notice” because it was changing its focus to research. NIU and Spertus have “a very friendly and amiable relationship,” he said.

“I’m very sorry he could not fit the schedule,” Norris said.

After a contract is broken, NIU must conduct a search for a replacement, Norris said. The schedule was set in early February, he said.

But Chady said he is disappointed after working 15 years for NIU to find himself out of a job.

“Suddenly, after they discontinue the program with Spertus College of Judaica, they change the schedule,” he said. “I become the victim of politics between both institutions. I am an educator, not a politician.”

Another reason for the schedule change was to attract applicants who might not want to teach a class with an irregular schedule, Skinner said.

“Since I started there (NIU), Spertus paid my salary, but all my devotion was for the institution and my students. I worked like I was employed by Northern,” Chady said.

“I really worry about the whole program,” he said. “Maybe this is only a trick to get rid of the whole program. In this situation, there’s a lot of thinking to do. I really worry about this program more than I worry about this job.”