Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1976 [PAGE 597]

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586

BOARD; OF TRUSTEES

[March 17

RECESS AND EXECUTIVE SESSION Following a short recess, the Board reconvened in executive session and considered the following items of business. Consideration of Information Regarding an Appointment1 At President Corbally's request, Chancellor Peltason presented Dr. Elmer H. Antonsen, Head of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Urbana-Champaign, and two members of that department, Professor Haile and Professor R u t h E. Lorbe, the latter appearing to make a presentation on behalf of the tenured faculty of the department. Also present were Vice Chancellor Morton W. Weir, Dean Robert W. Rogers, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Mr. Walter Strong, Affirmative Action Officer. T h e Trustees had received in advance of the meeting a communication signed by a number of the tenured members of the department and a n analysis by the President and Chancellor of the history of a personnel action regarding a member of that department as well as information concerning the relevant provisions of the Statutes and their interpretation. Specifically, the matter being reported upon involved an administrative decision to implement a promotion for the faculty member involved, although the recommendation of most of the tenured members of the department was in opposition to such a promotion. (The promotion is to the rank of Associate Professor and confers indefinite tenure status.) Chancellor Peltason reviewed the background information on this matter, emphasizing its extraordinary nature, viz., the recommendation of a dean to promote against the wishes of a department. H e noted that the Statutes do not provide the department with a veto on such action; nonetheless, the step was being taken with considerable reluctance. In the course of discussion, it was reported that, on the basis of a complaint presented by the faculty member, an investigation was made into her allegations that she had been discriminated against because of her sex. T h e Affirmative Action Office of the campus concluded that evidence supported these allegations. Neither the Chancellor nor the Vice Chancellor, after a review of this report, felt that the evidence justified such a definitive conclusion; the report did bring to their attention matters that in their view reflected improper handling of the promotion process -— and, therefore, they concluded, after consultation with the Dean of the College, that a fair hearing was best assured by the establishment of an ad hoc committee of outside scholars. T h e ad hoc committee consisted of scholars from cognate departments who, in turn, consulted with scholars within the field of Germanic languages and literatures from other universities. T h e report of this committee was strongly favorable to promotion.

1 As indicated in the text, the information had to do with a recommendation to promote a member of the faculty. The bulk of such recommendations are^ presented to the Trustees in list form, normally in July of each year. President Corbally described the process to the Trustees, indicating that^ although the University Statutes require that the Board act upon such recommendations, the action has traditionally been a pro forma one.