Hearing Committee Procedures

• Election of Officers. The Hearing Committee shall convene for its

organizational meeting within twenty-one days of its election. The Chair of the Hearing Committee from the preceding year shall preside over the election of the new Chair. This election of the new Chair shall be by secret ballot of the new members of the Hearing Committee.

• Purpose. The Hearing Committee, as elected by the faculty body, serves as the faculty’s voice in mediating confidential matters involving faculty members. There are four types of cases heard by the Hearing Committee:

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1) Informal Confidential Mediation. A Mediation Subcommittee of the Hearing Committee can employ a variety of techniques to informally resolve cases involving complaints by or against members of the faculty.

This confidential mediation is designed to help those in dispute reach a voluntary solution that is satisfactory to all involved parties. (See section a below.)

2) Formal Grievance. The Hearing Committee appoints a Hearing Panel that systematically considers the merits of a formal grievance involving members of the faculty or administration. The Hearing Panel issues findings and recommendations to the President and the parties to the grievance. (See section b below.)

3) Review of PAT Procedures. At the request of a faculty member, the Hearing Committee appoints a Hearing Panel to review procedures of the Promotion and Tenure Committee. In these cases, the Hearing Committee only considers whether the Promotion and Tenure Committee followed due process and does not consider the merit of a decision by PAT. (See section c below.)

4) Dismissal for Cause. The Hearing Committee reviews evidence potentially leading to the dismissal of a tenured or untenured faculty member before the end of the specified contract term. The

recommendation of the Hearing Committee is submitted to the President and the faculty member (See section d below.)

The Hearing Committee also serves as the faculty’s voice in mediating

confidential matters involving adjunct faculty members. There are three types of cases heard by the Hearing Committee regarding adjunct faculty:

1) Informal Confidential Mediation. A Mediation Subcommittee of the Hearing Committee can employ a variety of techniques to informally resolve cases involving complaints by or against adjunct faculty. This confidential

mediation is designed to help those in dispute reach a voluntary solution that is satisfactory to all involved parties. The procedures for informal confidential mediation brought by adjunct faculty is the same as for full-time faculty members. (See section below.)

2) Formal Grievance. The Hearing Committee appoints a Hearing Panel that systematically considers the merits of a formal grievance brought by an adjunct faculty member. As stated in Article III.5b of the Constitution, such grievances will typically involve issues related to academic freedom, professional ethics, or due process. The relevant due process provisions for adjunct faculty are the following: written terms and conditions of

appointments, modifications, and extensions; a written statement of reasons for involuntary termination during a period of appointment and an opportunity

to be heard before a duly constituted committee prior to such a termination;

and, if the faculty member makes a prima facie case of an academic freedom violation or improper discrimination, a statement of reasons for

nonreappointment and a hearing before a duly constituted faculty committee.

The Hearing Panel issues findings and recommendations to the President and the parties to the grievance. The procedures for formal grievance hearings brought by an adjunct faculty member is the same as for full-time faculty members (See section b. below.)

• Dismissal for Cause. The Hearing Committee reviews evidence potentially leading to the dismissal of an adjunct faculty member before the end of the specified contract term. The recommendation of the Hearing Committee is submitted to the President and the faculty member. The procedure for dismissal for cause hearings against regarding an adjunct faculty member is the same as for full-time faculty members (See section d. below.)

• Procedural Statements.

a. Informal Procedures for Complaint Resolution

The Hearing Committee provides a process for informally resolving complaints brought by faculty members against other faculty members or members of the administration.

o Use of the informal process is optional.

o The Petitioner need not have pursued all the avenues of grievance resolution stipulated for a formal grievance hearing before using the informal process.

o This process may not be used by members of the administration above the level of department chair or school director.

o On receipt of a written letter signed by the complaining faculty member and requesting use of the informal procedures for complaint resolution, the Hearing Committee Chair will appoint a Mediation Subcommittee, composed of three members from the Hearing Committee. Membership on Mediation Subcommittees shall rotate among Hearing Committee members. Each Mediation Subcommittee will elect its own Chair.

o The Mediation Subcommittee will be autonomous, serving

independently of other institutional structures and reporting only to the Petitioner(s) and Respondent(s), except in such cases where the

Subcommittee and all parties deem that involvement of other persons or structures is necessary to bring about a fair and/or amicable

resolution to the Petition.

o The Mediation Subcommittee will be flexible in its manner of resolving issues raised by the Petitioner, providing mediation or non-binding arbitration, as agreed upon by the parties.

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o The Petitioner (s) and Respondent(s) will have equal access to the Mediation Subcommittee.

o The proceedings of the Mediation Subcommittee will be confidential.

o No findings or deliberations of a Mediation Subcommittee may be used in a formal hearing by a Hearing Panel. If the Petitioner or Respondent wishes to present arguments and/or evidence to the Hearing Panel for a formal grievance that were advanced during informal proceedings by a Mediation Subcommittee, he or she must again present such arguments and evidence as if the informal proceeding had not taken place.

o These procedures are not intended to bypass or circumvent any procedures for resolving grievances now specified in the Faculty Constitution or Faculty Handbook. Bringing a complaint to a

Mediation Subcommittee will not foreclose the possibility of bringing a grievance before the Hearing Committee for a formal hearing. If a complaint rises to the level of a grievance and a formal hearing becomes necessary, the Hearing Committee must provide for such a hearing five members or replacements that have had no prior

involvement in the case.

o These procedures were established by the Hearing Committee on March 30, 2006, and approved by the general faculty on April 17, 2006.

b. Formal Procedures for Hearing Grievances

The policies and procedures listed here reflect the spirit of the procedures listed in the American Association of University Professors Policy

Documents and Reports, ninth edition (2001). These procedures have been adapted to suit the needs of the Hearing Committee in its consideration of grievances and to comply with the Constitution of the Faculty of Illinois Wesleyan University.

The role of the Committee is to hear grievances and to offer

recommendations for resolutions to the participants of the grievance and University President. The purview of the Hearing Committee does not include grievances involving any issues within the responsibility of the Academic Appeals Board or the University Judicial Committee, In all grievance matters brought before the Hearing Committee, the Hearing Panel's primary goal shall be to help resolve the grievance.

1) Definitions

o The Grievance Process is the entire process that begins when a written Grievance Claim is received by the Hearing Committee Chair and ends after the Hearing Panel issues its recommendations.

o Grievance Claim or Grievance is a written letter signed by the complaining party and addressed to the Hearing Committee that provides a succinct but complete account of the grievance,

including dates and specifying the person or persons subject to the grievance.

o The Grievant is a person (or persons) who files a formal Grievance Claim with her/his department chair, the Provost of Faculty, or the Hearing Committee.

o The Respondent is a person(s) subject to the grievance and named in the Grievance Claim.

o The Hearing Panel is a five-member subset of the Hearing Committee that arbitrates the Grievance Claim.

o A Grievance Hearing occurs when the Hearing Panel convenes to hear the case and receive the evidence presented by the parties of the grievance. A grievance hearing may involve one or more sessions.

o A Separate Grievance Hearing occurs when either the grievant(s) or the person(s) subject to the grievance petitions to meet

separately with the Hearing Panel.

o A Joint Grievance Hearing occurs when the grievant(s) and the person(s) subject to the grievance meet jointly with the Hearing Panel.

o Evidence includes, but is not limited to, testimony, written statements, documents, or electronic recordings.

o A Witness is anyone who provides supporting evidence to the Hearing Panel at the request of the grievant, the person(s) subject to the grievance, or the Hearing Panel.