Editor:

This letter is in response to Professor Richard Worthington’s recent attempt ( TSL, February 25) to contradict my earlier comments (TSL, February 11) on the behavior of President Peter Stanley, Dean Hans Palmer and Prof. Worthington himself during (and prior to) the February 4 faculty meeting. According to the 1990 edition of Robert’s Rules of Order, "All committee reports should in general be submitted in writing, except as noted (for particular types of brief reports in a small assembly)…" (p. 501). Moreover, according to Roberts, "If the report contains only an account of work done or a statement of fact or opinion for the assembly’s information, it should generally be in writing…" (p. 516) Thus, applying Roberts, Prof. Worthington’s Executive Committee report regarding the February 1 Faculty Forum was inadequate. Also, according to Roberts, "When a board or committee report has been received and the chair has stated the question on the adoption of the motion, resolution(s), recommendation(s), or report–whether the question became pending automatically, or the proper motion was made or was assumed by the chair–the matter is treated as an other main question, is open to debate and amendment, and can have…subsidiary motions applied to it" (p. 499). Although President Peter Stanley ruled me out of order, neither Roberts nor the College’s own 1999-2000 Faculty Handbook justified the President’s punitive action toward me.

Finally, Dean Palmer did not distribute copies of the flowchart that I presented as an overhead (and that Pomona College American Association of University Professors President Thomas Moore distributed during the February 1 Faculty Forum) until more than two weeks after the February 4 faculty meeting. In fact, the college still has not distributed copies of the letters from the national office of the AAUP that (1) criticized the Executive Committee’s proposed changes in the faculty grievance procedure (which I tried, without success, to read aloud during the February 4 faculty meeting) or that (2) acknowledged that my own proposed changes in the faculty grievance procedure are consistent with AAUP guidelines. Therefor, I continue to maintain that the College has willfully withheld crucial information from the faculty as a whole concerning the grievance issue.

Sincerely,

Stanley O. Gaines, Jr.

Assistant Professor

Psychology/IDBS