TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Tufts Faculty Handbook for Arts, Sciences and Engineering

The grievant may deliver a written statement of the grievance to the office of the person who chairs his or her department ("chair"). For those faculty who have appointments in more than one department, the grievance must be delivered to the office of the Chair of each department. The Chair should make every reasonable effort to resolve grievances at this point. In instances in which the chair is either the grievant or the defendant, the grievant may elect to proceed directly to Step Two.

If the grievant is not satisfied with the disposition of the grievance at Step One, or if no decision has been rendered within two weeks after the delivery of the grievance at Step One, the grievant may deliver the written statement of the grievance, together with a statement of the action (if any) taken by the Chair, to their School Dean. Copies thereof shall be delivered to the Chair, the Provost and the President. If the grievance involves an allegation of discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, or handicap, a copy of the grievance shall be sent by the Provost to the Assistant to the President for Affirmative Action. The Assistant may conduct an investigation of the incident and submit a report to the School Dean, the Provost, and the President.

The School Dean shall investigate and attempt to resolve the grievance. This investigation may include a meeting among the faculty members involved in the issue of grievance, the Chair, and the School Dean. A written answer shall be given to the grievant within two weeks after receipt of the grievant letter by the School Dean, unless the grievant agrees to an extension of this time period.

If the grievant is not satisfied with the disposition of the grievance at Step Two, or if no decision has been rendered within two weeks of receipt of the statement submitted at Step Two (or any extension of that period), the grievant may submit to the Chair of the Grievance Panel a Request for Formal Hearing, with a copy to the School Dean, describing the issue of grievance and the grounds for grievance, and naming those persons deemed by the grievant to be parties to the issue of grievance either as witnesses or participants. A grievance that is under court review may not be submitted to a Formal Hearing, and a grievance that has previously been under court review and has been finally resolved may not be submitted to a Formal Hearing. In cases involving appointments, renewals of appointments or promotion, Formal Hearings shall be restricted to issues of impropriety or procedural irregularities and the Hearing Board shall not consider or act with respect to matters concerned with the professional competence or worthiness for appointment, promotion, or retention of a faculty member, except insofar as such considerations bear directly and substantially on charges of impropriety or procedural irregularity.

The Grievance Panel (Article IV, Section 2(a)), upon receipt of a Request form from a grievant, shall meet promptly to elect five of its members to serve on a Formal Hearing Board. In the event that any member of the Panel has participated in the circumstances, which led to the grievance, such member shall not serve on the Formal Hearing Board.

The five-member Board thus constituted shall elect a chair by majority vote.

The Chair of the Hearing Board shall promptly schedule and arrange for the hearing. The hearing date shall not be less than ten days nor more than thirty days from the date of receipt of the Request, provided, however, that a hearing for a faculty member who is under suspension shall be held as soon as arrangements therefore may reasonably be made, but not later than fifteen days from the date of receipt of the Request. Each grievance case must be received by the Chair of the Grievance Committee during either the fall or spring academic semester. If a case cannot be completed within the academic year, the hearings may be suspended at the discretion of the Panel, until the next academic year.

The chair of the Formal Hearing Board shall notify the grievant and all parties named in the request for a formal hearing, of the time, place, and date so scheduled by certified mail, return receipt requested. The Chair shall also notify in writing the President, the Provost, and the School Dean.

(1) No member of the elected Formal Hearing Board may vote by proxy. The Board shall determine if the Hearing is to be kept open or closed. This vote may be taken with respect to any of the individual sessions, which together comprise the Hearing.
(2) An accurate record of the Hearing shall be kept. The method shall be established by the Formal Hearing Board, and may be accomplished by use of a court reporter electronic recording unit, detailed transcription, or by the taking of adequate minutes.
(3) The personal presence of the grievant shall be required. A grievant who fails, without good cause, to appear and proceed at such hearing shall be deemed to have abandoned the grievance.
(4) Postponement of hearings beyond the time set forth in these procedures shall be made only with the approval of the Grievance Panel. Granting of such postponements shall only be for good cause shown.
(5) Each party to the grievance may be accompanied and/or represented at the hearing by a person of his or her own choosing, including legal counsel, and shall be so informed by the Chair in the notification of the hearing. All parties shall attempt to present evidence with a minimum of procedural encumbrance. Although formal rules of evidence shall not apply, the Formal Hearing Board should take special care in evaluating letters or other hearsay evidence, which is presented by or on behalf of any party. The Formal Hearing Board may be advised by an attorney on matters of procedure and evidence.
(6) The Chair of the Formal Hearing Board shall preside over the hearing to determine the order of procedure during the hearing, to assure that all interested parties or their representatives have the opportunity to participate, to assure that all participants in the hearing have a reasonable opportunity to present relevant oral and documentary evidence, and to maintain decorum.
(7) The hearing need not be conducted strictly according to rules of law relating to the examination of witnesses or presentation of evidence.
(8) During the hearing, the grievant(s), the defendant(s), and the Formal Hearing Board shall have the following rights: to call and examine witnesses, to introduce written evidence, to cross examine any witness on any matter relevant to the issue of the hearing, and to offer relevant evidence in rebuttal. At its discretion, the board may arrange for the presentation of such additional evidence as it deems relevant. If the grievant does not testify in his or her own behalf, he or she may be called and examined as if under cross-examination.
(9) The Formal Hearing Board may, without special notice, recess the hearing and reconvene the same for the conveniences of the participants or for the purpose of obtaining new or additional evidence or consultation. Upon conclusion of the presentation of oral and written evidence, the hearing shall be closed. The Formal Hearing Board may thereupon, at a time convenient to itself, conduct its deliberations in executive session.

Findings by the Formal Hearing Board shall be based solely on the evidence presented. Within three weeks of the conclusion of the hearing, the Formal Hearing Board shall communicate its findings, including recommendations (if any) for disposition of the Grievance, ("findings") in a written report to the Grievance Panel, the Provost, the School Dean, and the parties to the grievance.

The report, together with the record of the hearing, shall be submitted to the President for final disposition. The President may seek the advice of members of the Board of Trustees. The President shall base his decision on the record, including the findings, or if he determines that the Formal Hearing Board should take further evidence or reconsider its findings, he shall so request within thirty days of receipt of the report. This request shall be in writing and the grounds for reconsideration shall be stated in full. The Formal Hearing Board shall promptly reconsider its findings and shall thereafter issue a second report within thirty days.

The President, or in his absence his delegated representative, shall make the final adjudication of the grievance within thirty days of the issuance of the report or second report of the Formal Hearing Board, as the case may be.

The President, shall inform in writing the grievant, all other parties in the grievance, and the Grievance Panel of the final disposition of the case, and in the event that the final disposition is not in accordance with the findings of the final report of the Formal Hearing Board, the President shall give in writing the grounds for rejection of those findings.

After final disposition of a formal hearing, the record of the hearing and copies of all documents pertaining to the hearing shall be placed in the files of the President.

For the purposes of the Formal Grievance Procedure, all time limits are to be calculated not counting the day of delivery or receipt but counting the day of requisite action. Thus if a grievance is delivered at step two to the School Dean on a Monday, a written answer to the grievant must be delivered no later than the Monday two weeks later unless the grievant had agreed to an extension.

Any student, staff member, faculty member, or member of the administration who has experienced sexual harassment or who feels that he/she has been discriminated against because of sex should first attempt to resolve the problem through discussion. In cases in which discussing the problem with the party directly involved presents particular stress or difficulties, the complainant has the right to consult on an informal basis with a member of the University administration (i.e. the affirmative action officer) and may bring an associate to that meeting if preferred. If the aggrieved party is uncertain as to whether or not discrimination or harassment has occurred, the Dean of the appropriate college, the Vice President of Human Resources or affirmative action officer should be consulted in confidence. If there has been no resolution within ten working days, a formal procedure shall then be instituted if desired by the grievant.

Procedure A: Intermediator

For all non-academic matters, the appointed authorities will have ten working days to achieve a resolution or settlement with the parties involved. The "appointed authority" will be construed to be the following:

Student complaint - Dean of Students
Faculty complaint - appropriate Dean or Provost
Staff complaint - Vice President of Human Resources
Administration complaint - Vice President of Human Resources

Any member of the Tufts community who feels that he or she has a grievance or who has a question regarding this matter should feel free to use the procedures outlined earlier in this chapter on Appeals and Grievances without threat of intimidation, retaliation or harassment.

A letter stating the agreed upon resolutions shall be sent to all parties involved, with a copy on file with the "appointed authority".

Procedure B: Formal Hearing

In cases where alleged harassment cannot be resolved through informal negotiation or with the assistance of a mediator, grievances shall be referred to the Assistant to the President for resolution. The assistant will conduct a confidential investigation. Where circumstances warrant, the Assistant to the President may appoint a hearing board to resolve the issue of sexual harassment. Any unresolved issues will be referred to the President with a report and recommendations. In these cases the decision will be made by the President. Every effort will be made to preserve the utmost confidentiality regarding all questions of sexual harassment for the protection of both the accuser and the accused.

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