An improperly held vote in the College of Science, which led to a grievance filed by the Faculty Association, has some members questioning the accountability of administrators and the authority of Chancellor Sam Goldman.

Marvin Zeman, former Faculty Association president and co-chair of the grievance committee, said an amendment to the college operating paper, brought by the College of Science Policy Committee, was presented to the college faculty at the end of the spring a2008 semester. The existing operating paper requires a 60 percent vote of approval from the faculty in order to approve amendments, Zeman said, but only 58 of the eligible 122 voting-faculty cast ballots, 50 of which voted yes.

According to the operating paper grievance in the College of Science, the policy committee decided to delay the vote until fall 2008, when the appropriate number of faculty members would be present. On July 16, 2008, however, College of Science Dean Jay Means wrote to Interim Provost Don Rice that the faculty ratified the amendment and, on July 24, 2008, Rice approved the change. The Faculty Association filed a grievance on Oct. 20, 2008 after receiving notification of the approved amendment.

‘There was a disagreement over whether the vote that was taken fulfills the operating paper’s requirements on who can vote and how many needed to vote in order for something to pass,’ Rice said. ‘It was just a misunderstanding.’

Zeman said Chancellor Sam Goldman agreed with the Faculty Association and on Nov. 3, 2008, Goldman ordered a revote. Seven months later, Zeman said, the Faculty Association filed for arbitration after Goldman’s instructions were not followed.

‘What kind of a place is this when the dean and the provost feel that they can … not follow the order of a chancellor and feel that there is no consequences,’ Zeman said. ‘And apparently there weren’t.’

Zeman, who is also chair of the policy committee who wrote the amendment, said it was nothing controversial and would have been passed with no problems had there been the right amount of voting faculty present.

‘It was a trivial thing,’ Zeman said. ‘It was about the hiring of an interim associate dean … (but) the amendment process was very important.’

According to the grievance, the Faculty Association repeatedly attempted to have Goldman’s instructions enforced with no success. At the end of February 2009, the Faculty Association filed for arbitration, which took place June 22.

Randy Hughes, Faculty Association president, said the arbitrator sided with the Faculty Association, calling the delay in implementation ‘frivolous.’ All costs of the arbitration were then assessed to the university, which Hughes said is unusual. Zeman said he believed the arbitration costs amounted to roughly $4,000.

‘(The arbitrator) seems to be saying that there wasn’t a middle ground, that there was just a very clear case of the university and officials in the university just failing to do what they were obligated to do,’ Hughes said. ‘It was an unusual situation.’

Means declined to comment and Goldman said he was not allowed to speak about ongoing grievances, though, according to the grievance papers, the arbitration was settled July 21.

Zeman said the college faculty was in the process of redoing the vote.

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Stile Smith contributed to this report.

Madeleine Leroux can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 254.