The article Accusations of Student Harassment Leave Professors Feeling Vulnerable by Peter Schmidt explains a legal case of a former professor at The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor during a sexual harassment case. The former professor questions if the university took proper steps of due process that are illustrated in the Fourteenth Amendment. Due to the student being harassed online, the identity of the former professor was not published in the article. University officials were notified of possible misconduct between a professor and one of his former students. Those university officials casually asked the former professor to a morning meeting. The friendly vibe of the meeting gave the professor a comfortable feeling to disclose his past
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This case not only brought bullying to the students and former professor, but also further legal sanctions. The former professor was placed under a salary freeze and a three-year setback to receive his tenure. Instead of moving through the appeal process, he made the decision to resign. The former professor accepted the punishment from his misconduct. The main issue from the case was if the professors received the right to due process that is listed in the Fourteenth Amendment. It is worth noting the case is not between the former professor and the student. The case is between the professor and The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Currently in higher education, the appeal process for harassment on a university’s campus is usually conducted by a committee of administrative officers rather than other faculty members. The appeal process must be as fair to the faculty members as possible to limit any allegation of wrong doing through the trail. The university stakeholders will expect the process to be fair to the everyone, including the accuser and the defendant. Any misleading process can lead to the case being dropped or not processed completely, resulting in a retrial. The American Association of University Professors Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance receives at least a dozen complaints a year from professors accusing their university of …show more content…
The Office of Institutional Equity handled this case internally. The final report stated the procedures used during the case failed the professor’s protection for due process. The aspects of the failing procedures were lack of notice of charge, investigative processes, and ability to appeal (Schmidt, 2015). The university expressed in the report that their on- campus office did in fact have the proper people in place for their position, but the people did not abide by the procedures set in place by their university and individual offices. After further investigation, the university found two other cases that did not receive the proper procedure for their legal case. One case was for classroom statements, and the other was sexual harassment. The university is moving forward with new procedure to ensure all sides have the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. Being a public university, all branches of The University of Michigan must abide by the U.S. Constitution. The university will move from treating all cases the same to reviewing each case
This case not only brought bullying to the students and former professor, but also further legal sanctions. The former professor was placed under a salary freeze and a three-year setback to receive his tenure. Instead of moving through the appeal process, he made the decision to resign. The former professor accepted the punishment from his misconduct. The main issue from the case was if the professors received the right to due process that is listed in the Fourteenth Amendment. It is worth noting the case is not between the former professor and the student. The case is between the professor and The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Currently in higher education, the appeal process for harassment on a university’s campus is usually conducted by a committee of administrative officers rather than other faculty members. The appeal process must be as fair to the faculty members as possible to limit any allegation of wrong doing through the trail. The university stakeholders will expect the process to be fair to the everyone, including the accuser and the defendant. Any misleading process can lead to the case being dropped or not processed completely, resulting in a retrial. The American Association of University Professors Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance receives at least a dozen complaints a year from professors accusing their university of …show more content…
The Office of Institutional Equity handled this case internally. The final report stated the procedures used during the case failed the professor’s protection for due process. The aspects of the failing procedures were lack of notice of charge, investigative processes, and ability to appeal (Schmidt, 2015). The university expressed in the report that their on- campus office did in fact have the proper people in place for their position, but the people did not abide by the procedures set in place by their university and individual offices. After further investigation, the university found two other cases that did not receive the proper procedure for their legal case. One case was for classroom statements, and the other was sexual harassment. The university is moving forward with new procedure to ensure all sides have the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. Being a public university, all branches of The University of Michigan must abide by the U.S. Constitution. The university will move from treating all cases the same to reviewing each case