The Faculty will publish an appendix to the Faculty Manual entitled "Procedures for Adjudicating Complaints Against Faculty Members" (see Appendix A.4) which will define the manner in which investigations of complaints against Faculty members for alleged violations of their professional obligations will be conducted. The procedures shall provide for both informal and formal processes for adjudication of complaints. The procedures may be amended by the Faculty Conference at any time. The Conference shall review the procedures at the request of any member of the Faculty, but the Dean of Faculty will routinely review all cases in order to bring suggestions to the Conference for procedural amendment if necessary. Anyone who requests a change must provide the Conference with the reasons for the requested changes. Changed procedures must be disseminated to the Faculty and included in the Faculty Manual before they may be used in a specific case, and the procedures may not be changed in a case currently being heard. At least every three years the Faculty Conference will consult with the Dean of Faculty to review the adequacy of the procedures. At the beginning of each semester the Faculty Conference will appoint a pool of tenured Faculty members from which persons will be chosen to carry out the duties of adjudication of complaints according to the procedures then in place.

The College may dismiss a Faculty member with tenure or prior to the expiration of his/her appointment only for adequate cause. Adequate cause will be directly and substantially related to the fitness of the Faculty member in his/her professional academic capacity, which includes responsible conduct toward all members of the College community, or to conditions of financial exigency or to the discontinuance of a program or department of instruction. Such dismissal will not be used to restrain the Faculty member in the exercise of academic freedom or other rights of American citizens as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.

In the case of a Faculty member's incapacity to meet professional obligations for medical reasons, the procedures to establish total disability as provided under Faculty benefits will be followed. If, however, the incapacitated Faculty member is unable or refuses to avail himself/herself of this benefit, the College may dismiss him/her with one year's salary in lieu of notice.

With respect to responsible conduct, it is noted that harassment of employees is an unfair labor practice under Connecticut state law and that sexual harassment of students is an illegal form of sexual discrimination under Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments. Title IX applies to any program or activity receiving federal funds and protects anyone in a subordinate position, whether student or employee. These laws and regulations apply to all Trinity College employees including Faculty members.

In cases of financial exigency or the discontinuance of a program or department of instruction, the issues will be reviewed by the appropriate elected Faculty committee, with ultimate review of all controverted issues by the Board of Trustees. If the Faculty member is to be dismissed, the College will give at least one year's notice or, in lieu thereof, at least one year's severance salary.

All other cases will follow the Procedures for Adjudicating Complaints Against Faculty (Appendix A.4). In cases in which suspension or dismissal is recommended there will be a hearing before the appropriate elected Faculty committee. That committee’s hearing procedures shall include at least the following procedural safeguards. The Faculty member will be informed in writing of the charges against him/her at least twenty days before the hearing. The committee, in consultation with the President and the Faculty member, will decide whether the hearing will be public or private. The Faculty member will have the opportunity to be heard in his/her own defense and will be permitted to have an advisor of his/her own choice who may act as counsel. A full stenographic record of the completed hearing will be made available, if requested, to all parties concerned. In appropriate cases, the testimony will include that of qualified teachers and scholars from the College or other institutions of higher learning. The hearing is not an appeal of the finding of facts of the case previously adjudicated; its only focus is whether the findings presented to it constitute adequate cause for the recommended suspension or dismissal. After completing its hearing, the committee will decide whether adequate cause for dismissal has been established and so inform the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees will then act upon the record and the decision of the committee. If the Board of Trustees does not sustain the committee's decision, the committee will have the opportunity to reconsider, taking into account the Board's objections. The Board of Trustees will make a final decision only after a study of the committee's reconsideration.

(Effective date: September 1, 1969; from The Amended 1969 Statement on Appointments, Reappointments, Promotions and Tenure, Faculty Manual, 8th edition, 1988, Section 12.4, pp. 30-31. Amended May 2, 1995.)