Grievable Issues
A grievance is a complaint alleging a misinterpretation, incorrect application, or violation of a policy, procedure, or practice of the University, not pursuable by the faculty member under other University procedures and/or policies. Some examples of "grievable issues" are the following: the application of policy, salary levels or salary adjustments, teaching loads or workload, reprisals, academic freedom, facilities or space, and sanctions. The following issues are non-grievable under this procedure:

1. determination of policy, which is the domain of the governance system;

2. promotion and tenure actions, which have their own appeal procedure;

3. items falling within the domain of other University procedures, such as discriminatory actions, scientific misconduct, conflict of interest, threatening or violent behavior, and Equal Employment Opportunity complaints.

Collegial Communications
Most faculty concerns or complaints can be resolved informally through normal collegial communications. Accordingly, faculty members are encouraged to take their complaints to their relevant supervisor in the normal spirit of faculty problem solving. The grievant is strongly urged to involve the Ombudsperson. If this does not lead to a mutually satisfactory outcome, the faculty member may pursue the issue through the procedural steps below.

Department or division heads or chairs, deans or directors, and other administrative faculty shall assist the faculty member in the processing of the grievance.

Grievance Committees
1. Each department or school shall formulate a grievance process in its charter. Charters shall provide for filing grievances with the Department Chair or School Dean, for a departmental or school committee of peers to review grievances, and for appropriate forms to keep a written record. The department or school charter's process shall be consistent with the provisions for timeliness as set forth below.

2. The University Senate (Senate) shall establish a standing, University-wide Faculty Review Committee (FRC).

a. The FRC will consist of three members and one alternate member, no two from the same department, chosen through an election of the faculty at large which is to be run by the Senate. Members shall be elected to three-year terms. (The longest-serving member of the committee will serve as Chair.) The terms shall be staggered such that an election is held each year.

b. Any member of the FRC who has prior direct involvement in a grievance case, either as a principal or as a participant in the departmental review process or otherwise, shall be precluded from serving on the FRC for that case. For such cases only, the position on the committee shall be filled by the elected alternate (refer to 2.a above). Such temporary appointment shall terminate when the findings of the FRC are submitted, and shall not abridge the rights and duties of the regular incumbent insofar as other activities of the committee are concerned. In such a case as this, the thirty (30) work day period would begin at the formation of the revised FRC (refer to Step One, below).

c. For implementing Steps Two through Five (see below), the FRC shall develop a set of uniform procedures and forms that are consistent with this policy; the forms must be approved by the Senate. The FRC shall submit to the Senate an annual report of the year's activities at the end of each academic year. The report should include a summary of the number of grievances filed, resolved, appealed, etc., from the department level through the Appeal Panel. Human Resources will provide information to help tabulate these summaries. (This may include data on numbers of grievances filed at the department level.)

3. Every grievance committee or panel (at the department, school and University level) will have an ex officio (non-voting) member appointed from the Human Resources Office to act as a resource person for current personnel policy and other legal issues, and also to provide "training services" for committee or panel members.

4. If the grievance is not resolved by Step Five, the Provost shall establish an Appeal Panel on a case by case basis. An Appeal Panel shall consist of three persons. The aggrieved faculty member and the original supervisor shall each select one faculty member from the University. These two persons shall choose a third University faculty member, who shall then serve the three-member panel as its Chair. None of these faculty panel members shall currently be serving as an administrator; none shall have had any prior involvement in the grievance.

Adopted by Senate: April 11, 2001
Administration suggested changes: April 13, 2001
Adopted by Senate: April 25, 2001
Approved by President: May 2, 2001