The recent events on the CU-Boulder campus surrounding the “Deviance in U.S. Society” course have generated a great deal of discussion amongst faculty members on a number of critical issues related to academic freedom, Rights and Responsibilities of Faculty and Chairs, and administrative procedures amongst others. Many requests have come to the Boulder Faculty Assembly to address these issues as the representative body of the CU-Boulder faculty. As such, the BFA Executive Committee has spent a considerable amount of time over the last month discussing the appropriate action to take to address these issues. The result of these discussions has been the approval of two ad-hoc committees that will be formed immediately.
The first ad-hoc committee will focus on the issues directly surrounding the case of Professor Adler and the “Deviance in U.S. Society” course. The committee is charged with “Reviewing whether established University policies and procedures were followed in the Professor Adler case.” The committee will be comprised of five Full or Associate Professors from the elected BFA representatives, an appointed representative from the Arts and Sciences Council of commensurate rank, and committee chair Professor Mike Klymkowsky, BFA Vice-Chair. The committee is charged with submitting a report of its findings to the assembly by May 1, 2014.
Faculty also have questions about the Office of Discrimination and Harassment (ODH). The second ad-hoc committee is being convened as an education and review committee. Specifically, the committee is charged with, “Reviewing established Office of Discrimination and Harassment (ODH) procedures related to administrative and faculty processes, with the purpose of addressing faculty concerns, recommending, where needed, improvements to such procedures. The committee is also charged with developing materials to assist the faculty in understanding ODH policy and procedures.” The committee will be comprised of eleven faculty members, including both tenure/tenure-track faculty and instructors, from within the ranks of the elected BFA representatives. The committee will be chaired by a member of the BFA Executive Committee.
The BFA looks forward to working collaboratively with all members of the University community in this effort and to having a productive and positive process. Open sessions will be announced to all faculty. Any questions regarding this effort can be directed to the BFA Chair, Paul Chinowsky, at paul.chinowsky@colorado.edu.