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Faculty Grievance Committee

Committee Report -- April 25, 2006

Committee Members: Malcolm Bell (Chair, Fall - 2005), Claire Cronmiller, Eugene Corbett, Jr., Daniel Devereux, Brie Gertler, Daniel P. Hallahan, John D. Lyons, Mildred Robinson (Chair, Spring - 2006), and William Scherer.

During the 2005-2006 academic year, the Faculty Grievance Committee had the following items of business:

  1. one (1) grievance that was submitted but was not considered valid; and
  2. one (1) grievance that was acted on and resolved.

There were no cases resolved by mediation before coming to the committee.

In addition, in response to a request, the Faculty Grievance Committee recommends that the policy and procedures of the Faculty Senate Committee be amended as follows:

Purpose: The University of Virginia Faculty Senate shall create a Faculty Grievance Committee, ... whose purpose shall be to provide an avenue of appeal for teaching and academic general faculty who feel mistreated in their relationship(s) with another faculty member or the administration of the University.

Authority: The FSGC serves at the pleasure of the elected representatives of the UVA Faculty Senate. The FSGC is authorized to receive and deal with grievances from members of the teaching and academic general faculty including but not exclusive to:

Irregularities in procedure regarding termination of any teaching or academic general faculty member for whatever reason.

By so doing, the role of the FSGC with regard to grievances submitted by academic members of the general faculty will be clarified.

The change is in accordance with Faculty Policies. That language, in pertinent part, is as follows:

The Teaching Faculty

The Board of Visitors has exclusive authority to confer faculty status. It does so by "electing" an individual to the faculty in a formal resolution.

The teaching and research function of the University is performed by a variety of individuals with various titles. Most full-time teaching faculty are eligible for tenure after a suitable probationary period. Other faculty positions that may be part-time, temporarily supported by outside funds, or purposefully short-term in nature do not lead to tenure. (Emphasis added.) The General Faculty The term "general faculty" identifies those faculty who are elected to the General Faculty of the University but not to the teaching faculties of the schools. (Emphasis added). ...

Policies pertaining specifically to the general faculty are codified under a separate policy statement contained in the Provost's Office Handbook and separately distributed to all members of the general faculty. These policies recognize two categories of the general faculty: academic and administrative. In the event of a grievance, academic general faculty use the procedures administered by the Faculty Senate Committee on Faculty Relations. Administrative general faculty use a separate procedure ... (Emphasis added.)

Respectfully submitted for the Committee Mildred W. Robinson

Chair, Spring 2006