Faculty Senate discusses altering grievance policy

By Jillanne Johnson
Staff Reporter

Dissatisfaction with the current faculty grievance policy was addressed at the Faculty Senate meeting Thursday.

Ed Kolesar, chairman of the Tenure, Promotions and Grievances Committee said the current policy discourages faculty to address grievances early on and is difficult to use.

The committee proposed adaptations to the current policy it believes will make the grievance process more accessible. The new policy will include formal conflict resolution and mediation as a means of resolving conflict when problems first arise.

Andy Fort, professor of religion, was chairman of the Affirmative Action Committee which originated the idea of formal mediation in 2000. He said the old policy addressed issues after they were already over — if an associate professor had been denied tenure, for example.

“The way the policy worked, almost never were these (decisions about tenure and promotions) overturned,” Fort said. “And people just ended up bitter.”

Kolesar said faculty believe the current policy is centralized at the upper levels of administration.

“If (a dispute) is serious enough, it goes to the dean but primarily the provost and chancellor,” Kolesar said.

The object of the new policy is to address issues like misunderstandings about the terms of employment and expectations for tenure and promotions early on.

“Currently there’s a void handling the lower level, less serious conflicts of misunderstandings of what’s expected of (faculty),” Kolesar said.

Shari Barnes, a campus conflict resolution facilitator, has been working with mediation as an informal part of the grievance policy since 1991. She has seen a rise in the number of faculty and staff who have requested informal assistance with resolving grievances through conflict resolution. More than 10 other faculty members have since obtained their state mediators license to help alleviate the demand.

Linda Moore, a professor of social work, said that when grievances arise, faculty members go to other people around them instead of addressing the person with whom they have conflict. She said she hopes this will encourage faculty members to address issues like unsatisfactory teaching or research initiatives during annual review instead of waiting until a faculty member’s tenure year.

“People let these issues slide instead of addressing it,” Moore said. “Hopefully this will help address issues that might make (a faculty member) less successful in tenure.”

The Staff Assembly implemented a similar policy in October 2000 for staff grievances.

Barnes said she has served as a conflict mediator, helping the parties involved find solutions, for 137 complaints since October. Through conflict resolution, only six have required formal mediation to find resolution. One was not resolvable and required a peer review for hearing. All mediation procedures are sealed and confidential.

The Faculty Senate will review the new policy and begin taking action to formally adopt the policy, if it is approved during the April meeting.

Jillanne Johnson
j.johnson@student.tcu.edu