Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

INSIDE IOWA STATE
February 23, 2001

Letter

To the Editor:

While we wait to see what mischief will be wrought from the provost's conduct-policy retreat this month with the committee that drafted the document, I want to submit one point of clarification. Jack Girton was quoted by Inside on Dec. 8, 2000: "You can't say the administration has no right to participate."

To the best of my information, no one has ever made such a claim. What has been claimed is that we need a disinterested, fact-based investigation before a case is dismissed as "not serious." Nor should men in black trench coats show up on the doorstep of a person accused of misconduct with a letter of dismissal and a claim of confidentiality for a reason.

As arbiter, the provost must be accountable for understanding the facts and articulating the reasoning behind every decision. No case should ever be closed down before the facts have been verified and corrected.

The administration has a right to participate, but it has an obligation to do so competently. Doesn't it?

Virginia Allen, English