SINGAPORE — The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has reportedly rejected Associate Professor Cherian George’s appeal against the university’s denial of tenure, which provoked an outcry from students and academics protesting against the move earlier this year.

Yahoo! News Singapore cited two unnamed sources confirming the rejection of the appeal.

When contacted, Dr George declined to comment, while an NTU spokesperson said it does not comment on specific cases, “as it is NTU’s policy to keep all employment matters confidential”.

The spokesperson added: “Appeals are not made against the outcome but against the process of the tenure exercise. The NTU President looks at all appeals carefully to ensure that the tenure process has been duly followed and, if it has, then the outcome will be upheld.”

Dr George joined the university’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI) in 2004, and had first applied for tenure unsuccessfully in 2009.

His second application was rejected in February — a move that outraged Cardiff University journalism professor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, a member of the panel that reviewed his tenure application. In a tweet, she called him a “superstar”, and said his case was “watertight”.

The university has said that faculty members who have been denied tenure twice can teach for up to another year before they have to leave.

Yahoo! also reported that WKWSCI journalism professor Ang Peng Hwa has written a “letter of support” for Dr George that was signed by three other professors from the school — Prof Eddie Kuo, Prof Hao Xiaoming and Prof Schubert Foo — and sent it to the university. The letter also asked the university to make the tenure process less ambiguous.

EUGENE NEUBRONNER