Faculty Grievance Procedure

Faculty Grievance Procedure

1. Members of the departmental Faculty and the Head shall make every effort to settle informally any disagreement which could lead to a grievance.
2. Whenever any party to a dispute becomes convinced that an informal settlement cannot be reached, a declaration of disagreement may be made in a letter to the Head, requesting that a departmental grievance committee be formed. The declaration must outline the nature of the disagreement and give assurance that efforts to reach an informal settlement have been made. Should the Head be a party to the dispute, he shall act as provided in section (3) below. In the event the Head is not involved in the disagreement he may, with the approval of the parties involved and within the limits of his authority, attempt to bring about a resolution of the dispute as provided in section (1). However, a written request by either party to the dispute to move to the provisions of section (3) shall be acted upon and concluded in a period not to exceed one week from the Head's receipt of the request.
3. The Head shall coordinate the formation of a departmental grievance committee to be constituted as follows:
   1. From those holding the rank of Professor (full) within the Department, each party to the dispute shall designate two persons who shall be asked to serve. Should any designee decline to serve, the right to designate a replacement is reserved to designator.
   2. The Head shall notify the four designees of their appointment to an ad hoc departmental grievance committee and instruct them to meet promptly to elect as chairperson a fifth member who must hold the rank of Professor (full) within the Department.
   3. The Head shall notify the elected chairperson of his(her) appointment to the committee.
4. It shall be the responsibility of the chairperson of the committee to ask for written documentation from the opposing parties and to notify them by letter that they may appear before the committee at a specified time, date, and place. In the letter to the opposing parties the chairperson may request pertinent information and it shall be his(her) responsibility to inform them that all written documentation must be furnished at least one day before the scheduled meeting.
5. No later than one week after the selection of the committee, the chairperson shall convene the committee. At that meeting the committee may proceed in one (or more) of the following ways:
   1. Any party electing to appear b6,fore the committee will he heard. If neither party elects for a hearing, the committee may come to a conclusion about the grievance; in that case, a written report of the recommendation and its justification will be prepared by the committee and transmitted to both parties to the dispute.
   2. The committee may request further information or documents; in that case after a second committee meeting, a written report of the recommendation and its justification will be prepared by the committee and transmitted to both parties to the dispute.
   3. The committee may request a personal appearance of the complainant, the opposing party, or both: in which case the hearing or hearings will be held as soon as possible and a written report of the recommendation and its justification will be prepared by the committee and transmitted to both parties to the dispute.
6. In any case, the business of the grievance committee should be concluded within a total of three weeks, excluding official recesses, from the date of appointment of the chairperson.
7. The recommendations of the committee are not binding, and either party may take the dispute to the Dean as provided for in the College Grievance Procedure.