A refusal by the UW-Milwaukee Faculty Senate last week to consider a plan concerning academic freedom raises questions about faculty rights on campuses in general, rights that some consider well-protected at UW-Madison.
The plan would have changed the current policy regarding academic freedom of faculty, making the wording clearer. The concern dealt largely with the grounds on which a faculty member can be dismissed or punished.
Jay Moore, a UWM psychology professor, proposed the change. The code outlined in the original proposal was based on UW-Madison's code, he said.
Faculty senates from campuses across the state reacted last summer when a UW-Superior professor was dismissed after allegations of improper relations with students.
Members of UW-Madison's Faculty Senate defended the academic rights of John Marder, a journalism professor at UW-
Superior, who was the subject of a 1995 complaint by a student who complained about his behavior when the two shared a hotel room during a journalism conference in New York.
Marder apologized but was later accused by a student in 1996 of making her feel uncomfortable by excessive praise. As a result of the two violations and other alleged ethics violations, UW-Superior Chancellor Julius Erlenbach fired him.
According to the minutes of a Nov. 5 meeting, members of the UW-Madison Faculty Senate said they supported the \principles of academic freedom and due process, as well as the principle of 'just cause' ... for the dismissal of any tenured faculty member of the UW System."" They added that they viewed ""with alarm any action that undermines these principles.""
Members cited violations of the administrative code and the lack of investigation into the case by the UW-Superior chancellor as their main concerns.
Situations in which actions of the administration are at odds with the opinions of the Faculty Senate are not common at UW-Madison, according to Patricia Wolleat, former chair of the Faculty Senate committee on faculty rights and responsibilities.
""I think we have a pretty good definition and we protect faculty rights better than any other campus,"" she said. ""Our rules delineate the roles of the chancellor, provost, etc., more specifically.""
The committee that hears proposed dismissals actually has not met in a while, said David Musolf, secretary of the faculty.
""We haven't even elected a chair to that committee because it hasn't met in several years,"" he said.
Wolleat estimated the committee has not met for seven years.
""I think on the Madison campus things won't come before that committee unless there is a pretty good case,"" she said.
