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Inside Iowa State
December 8, 2000

Conduct policy gets once-over

by Linda Charles
"Wonder if we'll have a quorum?" speculated one of the first senators to arrive at the Nov. 28 special Faculty Senate meeting to discuss a proposed conduct policy.

As it turned out, there was no need to worry. The senate came out in full force for the discussion.

Suggestions for changes to the proposed policy ranged from reducing the administration's role in the process to creating an ombudsperson position.

The proposed policy would cover personal, academic and professional misconduct. Under the plan, "informal" and "formal" routes for resolving complaints against faculty would be available.

The informal procedure would entail attempts to settle a complaint through mediated discussion with those involved. Under the formal procedure, a specially assembled faculty committee first would review the complaint against a faculty member and decide whether it could result in minor or major sanctions.

Senators questioned why the current policy calls for the severity of the sanctions to be determined before the investigation is held. Jack Girton, who chaired the committee that drafted the proposed policy, said the policy was written that way because not every complaint would warrant a full- scale investigation.

Some suggested a more "neutral" party should assume the administration's role, but Girton pointed out that this is an instance of shared governance and the administration has legal obligations in regards to misconduct. "You can't say the administration has no right to participate," he said.

The next step is for the senate committee that wrote the proposed policy to hold a retreat with an administrative committee to work out differences. The revised document will be submitted to the senate executive board and then sent to the senate for approval.

A detailed report of the meeting may be found online at: http://www.iastate.edu/news/today/2000/nov/conduct.html.

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Revised 12/6/00