Newspaper Page Text
Tin' Ked and Black, Tuesday. October 8. 1974
Page :i
ON DISMISSAL ISSUE
Background story given
IMioto h> DAVID BRKSLAUER
l)R. RONALD HITLER
Ad hoc committee
to begin hearings
By ROB MASSEY
Assistant News Editor
Editor's Note: Dr. Ronald
Butler may have to face dis
missal proceedings. The fol
lowing is background informa
tion on dismissal guidelines.
A standing or ad hoc com
mittee elected by the faculty
"should informally inquire into
the situation.” If they cannot
effect an adjustment, they
determine if formal proceed
ings should be instituted. Be
fore proceedings begin, a state
ment “with reasonable particu
larity of the grounds proposed
for the dismissal” should be
formulated.
The faculty member in ques
tion should be notified by the
president of the statement for
mulated, and his option to have
a hearing by a faculty commit
tee at a specified time and
place. He should also be in
formed of the procedural rights
that will be accorded to him.
The committee should either
be an elected standing commit
tee not previously concerned
with the case or a committee
established as soon as possible
after the president’s letter has
been sent. "The choice of
members should be on the
basis of their objectivity and
competence and of the regard
in which they are held in the
academic community.
The process begins with the
committee considering the
statement of grounds for dis
missal and the response f
of the faculty member. If the
faculty member requests a
hearing, the committee, in
consultation with the president
and the faculty member,
Contrivance'
claim backed
By DEBORAH BLUM
and THOMAS R. FRANKLIN
The claim of Dr. Ronald
Butler that the alleged mari
juana smoking incident at
Hoagies was planned has been
supported by the signed state
ment of one class member.
"Due to some long standing
harassment, a few of the
students and Butler arranged a
situation which forced this
University to hold some open
hearings on such issues as
academic freedom and harass
ment,” according to a state
ment signed by Greg Gerritt.
"We realized that someone
would go to the Pigocrats
This was our opportunity to
force the University of Georgia
to hold open hearings, thereby
demonstrating that it is a
repressive force," read the
statement.
Gerritt *s statement says a
situation was arranged and a
"prearranged plan to take the
class to Hoagies was carried
out,” but makes no mention of
marijuana or a plan to smoke
it. It does say. however, "We
obviously fooled a few people
with our concoction of catnip
and oregano."
BUTLER ALSO said the inci
dent took place "deliberately
and with full knowledge of the
consequences” because it "was
the only way to show some
thing about how the tenure pro
cedure here really works or
how the promotion procedure
really works."
I think it was the only way to
force open hearings on all the
incompetency and inadequacy
and cynicism on the part of
this administration,” Butler
continued.
"1 know it sounds a little
crazy and a little irrational,
but since my pleas and the
requests did no good I didn’t
see any other alternative,” he
added
Butler said three students
were "pre advised.” of the
class members who met with a
Red and Black reporter last
Thursday only Gerritt said he
knew of such a plan.
According to one student,
while on the way to Hoagie s
Butler said there would be
"repercussions”. “He said it
would get to the dean, some
thing would come out of this,
wait and see.”
HOWEVER one student
speculated Butler "meant the
fact that innocently taking the
class up to drink a little beer
would get back to the dean and
have repercussions.”
The class members also said
they don’t know what was
smoked at Hoagies.
"Who’s to say what it was,
because we were all pretty
drunk when whatever it was
went around," one said.
"Yeah, there were two rolled
up somethings going around
the table." replied another
"Where did they come from,
did ya‘11 know," asked one
student Several students re
plied. "I don’t know.”
"There were a number of
people up there who weren’t
from our class, also.” one
pointed out
"RIGHT. Remember those
guys when 1 got there? They
said. What class is this,’ and I
said French 102."
Several students said if ne
cessary they would testify in
court or at dismissal hearings.
None said they wold not testi
fy
Butler said two female class
members reported the incident
to Dean John Stephens or arts
and sciences. He said last
Thursday he had spoken to one
of the girls and she told him
she would refuse to appear at
possible dismissal hearings
"She said in her own mind
she was not certain that mari
juana was being used, and if
she had understood the reason
for going to Hoagies in the first
place she would not have
complained." said Butler.
The Red and Black was
unable to confirm this.
Butler said he did not know
the girl’s name and would not
be able to find out until todav.
Ten students last week sign
ed a statement professing their
admiration and appreciation of
Butler as an instructor.
Gerritt also praised Butler in
his statement. "Dr. Butler also
was attempting to establish a
rapport with his class that is
all too rare in academia. Most
educational institutions are
cold, heartless places This
country and this University
could use a little humanity and
warmth. Are you really going
to censor a teacher for being a
human being and an educator
in the true sense of the word?”
should exercise its judgment
as to whether the hearing
should be open.
The president has the option
of attending the hearing and he
may designate an appropriate
representative to assist in
developing the case. The facul
ty member should have the
option of assistance by counsel,
whose functions should be sim
ilar to those of the representa
tive chosen by the president.
However, the committee
should determine the order of
proof, should normally conduct
the questioning of witnesses,
and secure the presentation of
evidence important to the case.
Both the faculty member or
his counsel and the president’s
representative have the right
to question all witnesses who
testify orally. Also, the faculty
member should have the op
portunity to be confronted by
all witnesses adverse to him.
The committee should reach
its decision in conference on
the basis of the hearing. But,
both sides should be given the
opportunity to offer oral argu
ments. and written briefs may
be requested by the commit-
toe.
The committee is specifically
charged to "make explicit find
ings on each of the grounds for
removal presented.’
The committee’s decision is
then forwarded to the Board of
Regents.
If the committee’s decision is
not sustained, it should be re
turned to the committee with
objections specified. “In such a
case, the committee should
reconsider, taking account of
the stated objections."
Only after study of the
committee’s reconsideration
should the governing body
make a final decision overrul
ing the committee.
By THOMAS R. FRANKLIN
and DEBORAH BLUM
Editor's note: The following
synopsis is an effort to explain
the events that Butler decided
to bring into the open through
the hearings resulting from the
Hoagie's incident.
Last spring, a number of
graduate students submitted a
list of 23 charges against Dr.
Ronald Butler, assistant pro
fessor of anthropology.
The charges were subdivided
into incompetence in the class
room due to lack of perform
ance. student harassment, un
professional conduct and atti
tudes. and unwarranted per
sonal attacks.
The six students claimed
that Butler's participation in
the classroom had often been
minimal They cited instances
where "the sum total of But
ler’s total input consisted of a
series of snide remarks and
personal assaults.”
Butler refuted claims of in
competence in the classroom
pointing to favorable student
evaluations and strong praise
of his work from scientists
around the country.
Favorable reports of Butler’s
work were confirmed by Dr.
Wilfred Bailey, chairperson of
the anthropology department,
who said that both evaluations
and comments from other sci
entists were "very, very
good.”
OTHER COMPLAINTS filed
included Butler refusing to
allow students to use equip
ment, and many specific in
stances of embarrassing stu
dents in class such as asking a
female student to describe the
"missionary” position for the
rest of the class.
"No student has ever asked
for anything, for cast£, for
slides, or anything else without
receiving them, said Butler.
He added that there was one
exception when one of the
graduate students who signed
the list of grievances asked to
use some calipers to measure
monkeys’ teeth Butler refused
because he had been using the
instruments on human beings.
However, according to the
list of grievances, Butler sim
ply refused the student use of
the instrument, then denied
talking to him and finally said
that he was too drunk to
remember.
Butler also believed that the
students who had formulated
the grievances, in particular
Steere, James Cornish,
Michael Davidson, and Ann
Turner, had formed a kind of
conspiracy against him.
This feeling was supported
by the written statement of a
graduate student who attended
some of the meetings in which
the grievances were drawn up.
According to Judy Hanson,
the meetings were closed, "no
one suspected of pro-Butler
feeling was invited to attend.”
FOUR TO SIX meetings took
place, Hanson said, and each
person associated with the an
thropology department was re
viewed and labelled either
“pro or con-Butler” for the
purpose of determining who
could or could not be depended
on when the time came to take
formal action against Butler.
However, according to Corn
ish. the meetings were simply
a couple of casual get-togeth
ers in order to respond to a
request by Bailey that they
draw up a list of grievances
against Butler if they wished to
make a formal complaint
"A number of us had gone to
Bailey on repeated occasions
and complained and after a
while Bailey called the meet
ing.” said Cornish, "all of us
sat down and discussed quite
openly the problems with But
ler. and Bailey asked us to put
the complaints in writing ”
"There was no formal group.
We didn't all get together and
say we now have the commit
tee to get Ron Butler’ and
you’re president or anything
like that. We were only stu
dents who were very much
concerned with what was going
on in the department,” said
Cornish.
"The charges, which Butler
describes as "not only distort
ed but in some cases outright
lies" evolved from the meet
ings. They were discussed by a
committee of tenured faculty,
and it was decided that they
were not serious enough to
warrant dismissal hearings.
HANSON ALSO said that Dr
Irwin S. Bernstein, professor of
psychology, who had been in
volved in a dispute with Butler
for several months, was aware
of the meetings.
“I know he was aware of the
meetings because Steere tele
phoned him during one of the
meetings I attended.” Hanson
said, adding that Steere had
consulted with Bernstein as to
the ethics involved in drawing
up a formal complaint against
a faculty member.
One of the main complaints
made by Butler was that when
the grievances were brought
before the Dean of the College
of Arts and Sciences John C.
Stephens, Stephens questioned
only students involved with
Bernstein.
"These deans (Stephens and
Hardy Edwards, dean of grad
uate students) have gone out of
their way so far to get a one
sided picture of what happen
ed,” said Butler. He cites this
unwillingness of the deans to
listen to his side as one of the
reasons he decided to bring the
problems out in the open.
Butler’s association with
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Bernstein originated after he
and Bernstein taught together
in a primatology program.
"As time went on I found it
incieasingly impossible to
work with Bernstein." said
Butler.
EVENTUALLY lie told Bern
stein that he ' would not teach
with him anymore, that he
wasn't adequate to handle it.”
Shortly after this. Bernstein
decided to move out of an
office he had in anthropology,
according to Butler and Butler
said he wrote Bernstein a note
that he planned to use the
office to store dental supplies
and that he would put Bern
stein’s office supplies in a box.
According to Butler, he re
ceived no reply but about two
weeks later Bernstein used his
master key. went into the
office and "tore notes off the
doors, tore notes off the freez
ers. and took all the dental
supplies and piled them all
over the office."
Bernstein, however, said that
the note merely asked him to
leave the office, and that when
he went to his office he found
his desk covered with baby
food jars that Butler had
brought from home.
Many students had already
taken sides in the Butler-Bern-
stein conflict, according to
Butler, who believes that the
core group against him was
formed at Bernstein’s instiga
tion.
However, this was denied by
Bernstein who said that he had
"deliberately avoided becom
ing involved with the situa
tion ' and had never made any
attempt to stir up the students.
ANOTHER problem with a
student Butler faced during the
year was a potential libel suit
by a graduate student Jennifer
Hunter.
Hunter. who transferred
from the University of Texas
had been unable to get letters
or recommendations according
to Butler, but Butler had sug
gested her acceptance anyway.
At the same time he stressed
certain problems w-hich they
should be aware of.
"They were personal prob
lems. she was aware of them,
why should we keep her out of
school because of that.” said
Butler, "so I wrote a five
paragraph letter marked pri
vate and confidential which
went to Bernstein and Bailey .”
Bernstein talked Hunter into
transferring into psychology
according to Butler and "then
sometime either in late April
or early May he called Jenni
fer into his office and he pulled
the confidential thing out of
her file, and he told her that I
had written a libelous state
ment about her which could
affect her whole academic
career and she should do
something about it,” said But
ler.
Bernstein denied this charge.
"This is totally false," he said,
"I never showed her a letter
and I did not entice her to
switch departments.”
I1E ALSO denied that the
student had had any problems
getting letters of recommenda
tion.
"She has letters,” he said,
"and I have them in my file.”
However, according to Cor
nish. Hunter did find out about
the letter.
"I have not seen the letter,”
he said, "but I know something
about the contents as a result
of a discussion with Hunter
herself. I believe the letter was
Bernstein said that he was
"concerned that recent accusa
tions made by Butler will seri
ously damage Butler’s own case
"I believe many of the state
ments made were rash and un
founded and that Butler will in
future want to consider the
wisdom of his present actions.”
said Bernstein.
After deciding that it would
take something drastic to
make people listen to his side,
Butler "staged the incident at
Hoagies”
"1 still feel that what we did
at Hoagies deliberately and
with full knowledge of the
consequences was the only way
to bring some of these things
into the open.” he said.
Butler believes his history of
controversy has acted against
him in getting a promotion and
he also wants to expose the
bias of the tenure system.
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