BILLINGS — After two professors were unexpectedly placed on leave at the start of the fall semester, students at Montana State University Billings say their academic progress and graduation plans have been severely disrupted.
Listen to MSU Billings students' accounts on how two professors put on leave have disrupted their futures:
Joshua Hill, the university’s only economics professor, and Jennifer Scroggins, a criminal justice professor, were suspended on Sept. 3, the first day of classes, without explanation to students. Their abrupt departure left dozens of students scrambling to find replacement courses and meet graduation requirements.
An individual with direct knowledge of the situation, who wished to remain anonymous, told MTN the two professors were placed on leave after filing a whistleblower complaint regarding a partnership between MSU Billings and the Montana Department of Corrections.
A month after their suspension, the university has declined to provide details, citing it was a "personnel matter," but the lack of communication has left students frustrated and concerned.
Jeremiah Wood, a Marine veteran and economics and finance major, had planned to complete his final two economics classes this fall, a field he grew passionate about thanks to Hill.
"He's fantastic. Hands down, my favorite professor I've had," said Wood. “I ended up sort of falling in love with a lot of the economic stuff after I took that as a required class and kept taking everything I could.”
The 38-year-old is set to graduate at the end of this semester, but his academic future is uncertain.
“I was supposed to take my last two economics classes this term, but both of those got canceled after the only economics professor was put on leave the day before classes started,” said Wood.
Both Hill and Scroggins were set to instruct a full schedule of courses. The suspensions resulted in many students having their classes canceled or moved online. Wood said some students were not made aware of the change until days later. Wood took it upon himself to inform several of Hill's classes.
“I ran into one student who didn't know the classes were canceled three days, four days afterwards, and I ended up calling his advisor and confirming for him that his class had been canceled and removed ... He had no idea, and he's since come in for tutoring because he's behind in that class now," said Wood. “There's a lot of stuff where students haven't been looked after.”
Wood, who also works as a tutor at the university, said the changes may disqualify him from certain job opportunities he had sought that require a specific number of economics credits. While he can still finish his finance degree, he said the economics coursework was critical to his post-graduate goals.
“I needed economics credits. There's no other economics credits I can take here without somebody willing to teach economics courses, and Dr. Hill is the only economics professor at the moment," said Wood. "I've got the finance degree and that will serve well enough, I guess, but that means I just am more limited in what I was hoping for.”
Wood had planned to attend graduate school at MSU Billings, but said the lack of faculty support has left him unsure of what to do next.
Hill's suspension has left no in-person alternatives for upper-level coursework. While some students were shifted to online classes, many say the quality and accessibility of those options are lacking. Many students were also told by advisors that they would need to pick different courses, but some of what Hill teaches are entry-level courses that are required.
"Dr. Hill's micro and macroeconomics classes are required for probably most of the school, definitely the entire business college," said Matthew Heimbichner, a political science major. "I've heard nothing but awful things about the online version, so I think a lot of students are in a detriment by not being able to take Dr. Hill's in-person class."
Heimbichner said he realized something was wrong when Professor Hill did not show up on the first day of class. The department chair came and handed them their syllabus and told the students class was canceled for the week. Six hours later, he received an email stating all of Hill’s classes had been canceled for the semester. According to Heimbichner, advisors were similarly unaware of the situation.
"I mean, these other classes work, professional writing has been really good, actually, but it's still a disappointment because I was really looking forward to learning some other tool sets that I can use in my future endeavors,” said Heimbichner.
While Heimbichner was able to sort his class replacements fairly easily, he said the fallout did cause a delay in his GI Bill.
"Because that was a last-minute change, the Military Success Office had to go and do some work on their end to make sure that those credits were okay for the GI Bill to cover," said Heimbichner. "Because the VA didn't receive it in time, my GI Bill was kind of late ... the government shutdown didn't help either.”
Senior finance student Valana Austin claims that her entire academic success relied on Hill’s ability to be present. She was working closely with Hill on a Billings water economics research project, and he had been helping her pursue an undergraduate publication.
"All of that's kind of just been put to a standstill, so that's really disappointing, honestly, for me as well," said Austin. "There's not really a whole lot I can do when somebody who's helping me oversee my research no longer is there."
Austin said one of her required spring courses is only taught by Hill. The alternative offered was to attend a course in person at MSU in Bozeman or a $1,400 online class from an out-of-state university in Colorado, something she believes the university should cover.
“The fact that it's not being offered next semester really kind of puts me in a questioning area since I'm supposed to graduate as of next semester,” said Austin. "If that is my only option, the university should pay for it. I don't see any reason why I should because you took away my initial ticket anyways.”
All of these students agree that the loss of Hill will be detrimental not only to their futures, but for the school as a whole. Many said his teaching style made them think critically and apply concepts in new and challenging ways.
“He's honestly one of the best teachers here, like he absolutely treats his students like adults. He has very high expectations,” said Heimbichner.
"A lot of people talk about critical thinking and teaching you to think critically, but he operationalized that in a way that I haven't seen before,” added Wood.
A group of students, including Austin, Heimbichner, and Wood, has spent weeks writing emails, contacting administrators, and appealing to the Board of Regents for answers. They say responses have been vague, often redirecting them to advisors who lack adequate alternatives or are unauthorized to give further information.
“I tried to ask around and see if anybody could provide any sort of supplemental answers as to why. I got told no multiple times," said Austin.
But students argue that the efforts to find equivalent course substitutions have been insufficient and uncoordinated.
“They also said we're doing our best to take care of students, which, after what I've heard, what I've seen, does not appear to be the case,” said Heimbichner
While the university has declined to explain the suspensions, a recent article by the Daily Montanan first reported that the two professors may have been placed on leave after filing a whistleblower complaint about a partnership between MSU Billings and the Montana Department of Corrections.
Students said the article was the first time they had heard a possible explanation for the suspensions, weeks after classes had been disrupted.
"If somebody needs to be fired, somebody needs to be put on leave, that's not really my place to say, but the way that it's been done has maximized damage to students while minimizing damage to the administration," said Wood.
While details are still unknown about the filed complaint, Austin said the partnership program was previously offering bachelor's degrees to incarcerated students, some of which, like accounting and education, would not be viable for some with a felony conviction, depending on the offense. She said concerns about program usefulness and costs were discussed among students and faculty.
"It's a grant. They'll have to pay it back when they get out, so it's not like this is just a free education or free ticket," said Austin. "Not really entirely moral to make people pay for and take classes and a degree that won't be entirely not useful for them when they get out.”
According to students, some faculty have been hesitant to speak out due to fears of retaliation.
“A couple of professors that I've had previously in my other semesters, they approached me privately, and they thanked me for doing the article for speaking out on their behalf," said Heimbichner. "They admitted that the faculty here is being silenced."
MTN did reach out to Dr. Joy Honea, the faculty union president, but she said she could not discuss personnel matters.
As the semester moves forward, students are still without clear answers or timelines. Some, like Wood, have decided to look elsewhere for graduate programs. For others, the road forward is unclear, and they remain uncertain about how to complete their degrees on time or afford the alternatives.
"To me, it sounds a lot more political than it sounds like actual mistakes," said Austin. "You're removing a pinnacle Billings community member that had an impact not just within the university, but outside the university as well, and that's just really a shame, and it's not deserved.”
