Request to Campus Senate on Inadequate Administration Investigation

TO:	Luther Skelton, UIS Campus Senate
FROM:	Dennis Fox, Associate Professor of Legal Studies
DATE:	May 14, 1997
RE:	Request Senate Action on Inadequate Administration Investigation

As you know, on May 7, 1997, I filed a complaint with Chancellor Lynn concerning administrative interference with distribution of leaflets at a May 2 university event in Springfield. In a memo dated May 12, Associate Chancellor David Everson told me that "an investigation" had concluded there were no grounds for my complaint. This interchange should interest the Senate for two reasons. I am requesting that you schedule this for discussion at the June Campus Senate meeting unless the administration resolves the matter before then.

First is a matter of substance: the administration's interference with distributing campus-relevant materials. Can the administration intentionally structure a public event to prevent leafleting? Can the administration instruct private guards (or campus police) not only to block access at such an event but to actually remove leaflets from the hands of people already holding them? This is a campus-wide concern.

Second is a matter of process: the nature of the administration's "investigation." What kind of investigation was there? Who did the investigating? Whom did they interview? You might think that an investigator would ask me for more details, or others who were prevented from leafleting, or witnesses who saw the clear intent of the guards in action, but as far as I can tell this did not happen. Was there really an investigation, or was there only the assurance by an administrator that "the conference organizers handled the situation in a sensitive and appropriate manner"? Is there a process for complaints about administrative action, or are we subject to administrative dictat without recourse? What can a member of the campus community do when the administration refuses to take a complaint seriously?

Ironically, on the morning of the May 2 incident the Campus Senate passed a resolution criticizing the Chancellor's newly imposed police complaint policy because it does not provide the kind of investigation the campus expected. The incident just a few hours later led to exactly the kind of one-sided whitewash ensured by the Chancellor's new policy: investigation by an administration official who is not required to interview everyone involved, who can keep relevant information secret, who can reach a conclusion that distorts the facts, and who is not subject to questioning by relevant campus committees.

Unfortunately, Everson's memo brings into sharp relief the administration's long-standing response to allegations of wrongdoing. I urge the Senate to take up this matter before the next leafleting incident leads to yet another inadequate resolution.