The Committee on Faculty Rights and Responsibilities announced that it has temporarily stopped hearing grievances against the administration and has declared that the system of faculty dispute resolution is broken. This announcement comes in the wake of confusion between the administration and the faculty over interpreting the Faculty?Handbook in Prof. Donald Hindley's (POL) case, in which Provost Marty Krauss dismissed the CFRR's ruling. The CFRR said Krauss violated the Faculty?Handbook and that her penalties were excessive.

In a Dec. 10 memo, Krauss questioned the factual basis of the committee's ruling, and referred to it as an "advisory opinion."

After Hindley allegedly used a racial slur, the provost placed a monitor in his classes and ordered Hindley to attend a mandatory anti-discrimination training or face termination.

Administrators, the Faculty Senate and the CFRR are in the midst of developing a new way to handle disputes between faculty and the administration.

The CFRR met with the Faculty Senate last week to discuss the issue, although committee chair Prof. Richard Gaskins (POL) declined to comment on the substance of the meeting.

The chairs of both bodies have been in contact with Krauss. "We're trying collaboratively to work out next steps," Krauss wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. It remains unclear to the involved parties what those steps might be.

At a Mar. 6 faculty meeting, Faculty Senate chair Prof. Marc Brettler (NEJS) read a statement that "the Committee will defer the review of faculty grievances ... pending a clear reaffirmation by the Senate and by the administration of shared principles of faculty governance." The statement described the moratorium as a "breakdown in the system of faculty dispute resolution."

Last November, the Committee's grievance panel, acting on behalf of the faculty, found the provost responsible for serious and multiple violations of faculty rights, according to Gaskins. "These problems need to be addressed frankly in coming weeks if the faculty grievance process is to be restored to health," he wrote in an e-mail statement to the Justice.

Krauss conceded that the administration and the CFRR "definitely had disagreements last semester." She says said the Hindley conflict "surfaced a different interpretation of [the Committee on Faculty Rights and Responsibility's] role" in resolving disputes between faculty and the administration.

The two parties still hold different interpretations of faculty policy. Krauss maintains that CFRR is an "advisory committee, as it says in the [Faculty] Handbook." Meanwhile, according to Gaskins, "the Committee on Faculty Rights and Responsibilities is working closely with the Faculty Senate to reaffirm the Committee's authority and jurisdiction."

"We look for the Senate to call upon the administration to accept that authority, and to work in a more open and transparent fashion to regain the confidence of the faculty," Gaskins added in his e-mail. Given the fledgling status of the dialogue, Krauss declined to make any predictions about its outcome. "I wouldn't prejudge," she said.