PART 1: FORMAL HEARING PROCEDURES

DEFINITIONS

Academic Freedom Grievance - A complaint made by a student, former student, Faculty member, or former Faculty member concerning alleged inequity, unfairness or maladministration involving academic freedom.

Committee - The Academic Freedom Committee.

Complainant - Any person or group who has filed a written complaint with the Academic Freedom Committee, or who has had a complaint filed on his/her/its behalf by the Ombudsman.

Hearing Panel - A Panel comprising those members of the Academic Freedom Committee constituted to hear a particular complaint.

Non-Academic Freedom Grievance - A complaint originating under Section 9.2.1 of the Faculty Manual alleging unfairness, inequity, discourtesy, undue delay, or other malfunction in the processes of the College but not specifically involving academic freedom.

Respondent - A person or group who is named in a complaint made to the Academic Freedom Committee.

PROCEDURES

1. The Complainant will file a specific written complaint with the Committee Chair (or his/her designee). The complaint must be either an academic freedom grievance or a non-academic freedom grievance. It shall be the Complainant's responsibility to specify the type of complaint being made.

Normally a charge will be filed within three years of the event that precipitated it. A detailed statement explaining why the charge has been delayed must accompany filing after this time period. Acceptance of a charge filed later than three years after the precipitating event will be at the discretion of the Committee.

2. The Committee Chair (or his/her designee) will give all Respondents a copy of the complaint. The Respondent will submit a response to the complaint in writing to the Committee Chair (or his/her designee) no later than 30 days following receipt of the complaint. College vacations may however require some accommodation in scheduling.

3. Upon receipt of the response, the Committee will examine the complaint to determine whether it has sufficient merit to warrant Committee consideration. This determination will be made within one week of receipt of the response. It will require the assent of at least 2 members of the Committee to determine that the Committee will hear the complaint. If it decides not to hear the complaint, the Committee will inform the Complainant and the Respondent in writing of its reasons.

4. If it decides to hear a complaint, the Committee will usually schedule a hearing date no sooner than 2 weeks and no later than one month after the Respondent's written response to the complaint has been received by the Committee Chair (or his/her designee). The Committee will endeavor to arrive at its findings as expeditiously as possible, particularly when the complaint has been made in the context of an appeal to the Appointments and Promotions Appeal Board.

5. If the subject matter of the complaint concerns procedures, policies, or practices of the College, the Committee's report of findings will be made available to the Faculty; unless the Committee decides otherwise for cause, it will be made available to the Faculty in the same form as submitted to the principals of the case.

If the subject matter of the complaint involves personnel matters, the Committee's report of findings will not usually be made available to the Faculty in the form submitted to the principals. In such cases, the Faculty will be given only a summary reporting that a Formal Hearing was held, the nature of the allegations made, and the principles on which the Committee based its conclusions.

In conformity with its charge in the Faculty Manual (Section 9), the Committee will make the determination of the form in which reports of findings will be distributed to the Faculty, but it will consult with the Respondent and the Complainant before making its decision. Publication of findings, in any manner whatsoever, is reserved solely to the committee or to the Faculty as a whole; no other agency or member of the Faculty is authorized to make any committee documents public. Any documents issued to individuals in the course of formal committee hearings are provided solely for the personal, private use of such individuals. In cases where the matter being heard concerns an academic freedom allegation that will be part of an appeal made by the Complainant to the A&P Appeals Board, the committee’s final report will be transmitted directly to the A&P Appeals Board and will not be disseminated elsewhere until the Appeals Board has ruled on the appeal.

6. The full Committee will usually constitute the Hearing Panel. Members of the Committee may recuse themselves when faced with a conflict of interest. The Complainant and the Respondent may challenge members of the Hearing Panel for cause. The Committee will be the sole judge of the merit of a challenge; it will be guided in its decision a) by the principle of fairness to the Complainant and the Respondent, and b) by the need to maintain whenever possible the integrity of a duly elected Panel in the discharge of its obligations to the Faculty. In cases of both recusal and challenge, the Committee will be sensitive to the fact that, in a small community such as ours, neither the appearance nor the reality of a conflict of interest is always easily avoided; it will thus seek to avoid the extremes of, on the one hand, contaminating the process through allowing real conflicts of interest to stand, and on the other hand, vitiating the process through excessive recourse to ad hoc procedures.

7. Proceedings will be tape-recorded. The tape will ordinarily be available only to the Hearing Panel or to the Ombudsman in the event of an appeal to the Panel's decision.

8. At least one week before the Hearing date both the Complainant and the Respondent will provide both the Committee and the other party with 1) a list of witnesses to be called, and 2) a list of items to be submitted in evidence and copies of documents to be submitted. If neither Respondent nor Complainant has witnesses or evidence to present, and if neither party wishes to question the other, they may, in agreement with one another and with the Committee's consent, agree to waive procedures 9, 10, and 12 and allow the Committee to base its decision on the material already presented. Should procedures 9, 10 and 12 be waived in this manner, however, the Committee retains the right to put its own questions to the Complainant and/or the Respondent and/or other witnesses according to procedure 11.

9. At the hearing the Complainant will first present the written complaint and make whatever statement he/she/it wishes. The complaint may then present such evidence and/or witnesses as he/she/it wishes. The Respondent and then the Hearing Panel will be given opportunity to examine all evidence and to question each witness. Requestioning by Complainant, Respondent and the Hearing Panel will be permitted until all parties indicate they have no further questions.

10. The Respondent may then present his/her/its written response, make a statement, and present such evidence and/or witnesses as he/she/it wishes. The Complainant and then the Hearing Panel will be given an opportunity to examine all evidence and to question each witness. Requestioning by Complainant, Respondent and the Hearing Panel will be permitted until all parties indicate they have no further questions.

11. The Hearing Panel may cause such evidence to be presented or other witnesses to testify as it determines is necessary for its deliberation. The Hearing Panel will have all the powers of access to evidence and witnesses as does the Ombudsman.

12. The Complainant and the Respondent will each be allowed to make a summary statement orally or in writing or both. Any summary statement must be limited to matters raised in the course of the hearing or in the written materials previously submitted by the Complainant and the Respondent, and any such written statement must be submitted to both the Committee and the other party within 10 days of the close of the hearing.

13. The order of the hearing may be changed only with the unanimous consent of the Complainant, the Respondent, and the Hearing Panel.

14. Recesses may be taken during the hearing in order to give any party, including the Hearing Panel, time to prepare material, obtain new material, or obtain witnesses. Only the Hearing Panel has the power to grant and to define the duration of the recesses.

15. The Hearing Panel will present a draft of its findings in writing to the parties within 30 days of the adjournment of the hearing. However, in the event that either party submits summary statements, the Committee's draft of its findings will be presented within 30 days of the receipt of the later of such summary statements. Both Complainant and Respondent shall have up to 10 days to draw the Committee's attention to any errors of fact contained in the report, after which time the Committee will issue its findings in the form of a Final Report.

16. Should the Complainant or the Respondent wish to appeal the findings of the Hearing Panel, such appeal must be made to the Ombudsman within 30 days of the submission of the Committee's report of findings to the various parties. Such appeals are admissible only on the grounds of procedural error or gross unfairness. While the Ombudsman may respond to such appeals in any manner he/she sees fit, normally the Ombudsman will outline in writing the causes for denying the appeal or for recommending a rehearing. No further appeals are permitted.

(Revised December 1994)

PART 2: FORMAL INVESTIGATION PROCEDURES

1. The Ombudsman (or his/her designee) will file a specific written request for a hearing with the Academic Freedom Committee, hereafter, the Committee. The request will state what question is being asked and what scope of finding is being requested of the Committee.

2. The Committee will meet with the Ombudsman (or designee) and decide what parties are likely to be relevant to the question being asked.

3. The Committee will provide all potentially relevant parties a copy of the request, and will schedule a hearing date no sooner than 15 days and no later than 30 days after all such parties have been notified.

4. Any person or group who believes he/she/it is affected by the issues being heard may request to be named a participant in the hearing and to be permitted to address the scheduled hearing. The Committee will have final determination of who has cause to be designated a participant.

5. When the subject matter of the Investigation concerns procedures, policies, or practices of the College, the Committee's findings will be made available to the Faculty, and unless the Committee decides otherwise for cause, they will be published to the Faculty in full. If the subject matter of the Investigation involves personnel matters, the Committee's findings may be reported to the Faculty in a form that protects the privacy of individuals involved in the Investigation. The Committee will make the determination as to whether Committee findings will be published in full or in modified form after consultation with the Ombudsman. Normally it is expected that the Committee's findings in an Investigation will be reported in full to the Faculty.

6. The full Committee will generally constitute the Hearing Panel, although the Committee may name a smaller Panel from among its members to conduct the investigation. The Ombudsman (or designee) may challenge designated members of the Hearing Panel for cause. The Committee will be the sole judge of the merit of a challenge; it will be guided by the principle that, since inquiries under this procedure are uncontested, any potential conflict of interest would have to be very great in order to justify disqualifying any member of the Committee from sitting on the Panel.

7. Proceedings will be tape-recorded. The tape will ordinarily be for the use of the Committee in reaching its conclusions.

8. The Ombudsman (or designee) will first present the written request and make whatever statement he/she wishes. The Ombudsman (or designee) may then make such statements and present such evidence and/or witnesses as he/she wishes. The Panel will be free to question all witnesses. Requestioning will be permitted until both the Hearing Panel and the Ombudsman indicate they have no further questions of each other or of the witnesses.

9. Other participants admitted by the Committee to speak will then be allowed to make statements and to present evidence in an order to be determined by the Hearing Panel. Both the Hearing Panel and the Ombudsman (or designee) may question all persons addressing it.

10. The Hearing Panel may cause such evidence to be presented or other persons to speak as it determines is necessary for its deliberation. The Hearing Panel will have all the same powers of access to evidence and witnesses as the Ombudsman.

11. Recesses may be taken during the hearing in order to give any party, including the Hearing Panel, time to prepare material, obtain new material, or obtain witnesses. The granting and duration of any recesses must be acceptable to both the Hearing Panel and to the Ombudsman (or designee).

12. The Hearing Panel will present its findings in writing to the Faculty within 30 days of the adjournment of the hearing.

13. Since the purpose of these investigations is to formulate a statement from the Committee concerning some issue at hand, no appeal from the finding of the Panel is appropriate.

14. When a Formal Investigation is initiated by the Committee itself under Section 9.2.1.c of its charge in the Faculty Manual, the Committee will assume the role of the Ombudsman throughout these Procedures.

(Revised July 1993)