Office for Equal Opportunity: Formal Grievance Procedure

This procedure pertains to the filing of a formal complaint. Any aggrieved person may file a formal complaint against any employee of the university if he or she believes illegal discrimination has taken place by filing a written description of the alleged discrimination with the office for equal opportunity on a form provided by that office. Statements should be as detailed and accurate as possible, including a statement of the specific allegation of discrimination. The complaint must be filed within 180 days of the last alleged act of discrimination except at the discretion of the director of the office for equal opportunity.

1. A complainant shall receive acknowledgment of the filing of a formal, written complaint. Upon written notice, the complainant may withdraw the complaint at any point during the formal procedure.
2. An equal opportunity grievance committee shall be appointed annually by the president and shall consist of five individuals representing the various university constituencies, including minority group members and both men and women. The committee shall be made up of one administrator, two faculty members, and two civil service employees and shall select its own chair. If a complainant is a student and so requests, two students may be substituted by the president for a like number of existing members of the committee. Members of the equal opportunity grievance committee shall remove themselves from the case if they deem themselves biased or personally interested in its outcome.
3. The director of the office for equal opportunity or a designee appointed in consultation with the equal opportunity grievance committee shall serve as investigating officer in a given complaint.
4. The vice president or other equivalent unit head, other appropriate administrators, and the respondent shall receive a copy of the complaint from the director of the office for equal opportunity within five working days of the filing by the complainant.
5. The investigating officer shall have forty working days to:
   1. Meet with the complainant and respondent.
      1. The complainant and respondent may each be accompanied by one advocate or an observer.
      2. The complainant and the respondent must submit the names of all witnesses they wish the investigator to interview and all statements and documents they wish the investigator to examine.
   2. Examine documentation and interview witnesses.
   3. Consult with the appropriate vice president, or equivalent unit head and/or other appropriate administrator, and the assigned assistant attorney general.
   4. Prepare a written investigative report.
   5. The investigating officer may extend the investigation beyond forty days by providing notification to the complainant and respondent. Such notification will include the anticipated date for completion of the investigation.
   6. When the timeline for the investigation would require interviewing students, faculty or staff during the summer and those interviews are significant to the complaint, and the interviewees are unavailable, this deadline will be tolled until the beginning of the following quarter and all parties will be notified.
6. The investigating officer may meet individually with the complainant and respondent to discuss the report in the hope that a resolution can be reached which will lead to a withdrawal of the formal complaint by the complainant. If such a withdrawal is not received in writing by the office for equal opportunity within ten working days of the completion of the investigative report, copies of the investigative report shall be provided to:
   1. The university president,
   2. The equal opportunity grievance committee,
   3. The complainant(s),
   4. The respondent(s),
   5. The appropriate administrator(s),
   6. The director of the office for equal opportunity (if investigation is conducted by a designee).
7. The equal opportunity grievance committee shall review the complaint and the findings of the investigating officer and determine whether or not the facts warrant a proceeding. The committee's decision shall be limited to one of the following statements:
   1. Based on the evidence presented to us, we find probable cause for believing that a discriminatory act may have been committed; or
   2. Based on the evidence presented, we find no probable cause for believing that a discriminatory act has been committed.
   The committee shall make its report in writing to the university president, the director of the office for equal opportunity, and the parties involved within fifteen working days of receipt of the report by the investigating officer. The deliberations of the committee shall not be disclosed to anyone except the director of the office for equal opportunity who shall hold them confidential.
8. If probable cause is found, a proceeding will be held.
   1. The chair of the equal opportunity grievance committee shall establish a date for the proceeding. A notice establishing the date, time, and place of the proceeding shall be provided the parties not more than ten working days from the issuance of the probable cause or no cause decision. The composition of the proceeding committee shall be provided also.
   2. The proceeding shall be held not less than fifteen working days from the mailing of the notice of hearing unless all of the parties, with the consent of the chair, agree to modify the timeline.
   3. Each party shall have the privilege of one challenge without stated cause and unlimited challenges for stated bias or interest. In the case of a challenge for stated bias or interest, a majority of the equal opportunity grievance committee members must be satisfied that a challenged member cannot hear the case impartially before the member can be disqualified. In the case of removal of a member through the challenge process, the president shall restore the committee to full membership.
   4. The proceeding shall be conducted as expeditiously as possible and on successive days if possible.
   5. The parties and any others the equal opportunity grievance committee deems necessary to the proceedings shall make themselves available to appear at the proceeding unless they can verify to the committee that their absence is unavoidable.
   6. The complainant and the respondent shall be permitted to have with him/her a party of his/her own choosing to act as advisor and counsel.
   7. The proceedings shall be closed to all except those persons directly involved in the case as determined by the equal opportunity grievance committee. Statements, testimony, and all other evidence given at the proceeding shall be confidential and shall not be released to anyone and may be used by the committee only for the purpose of making its findings and recommendations to the president. However, such information will be made available to federal and/or state compliance agencies upon request or as otherwise required by law.
   8. The chair of the equal opportunity grievance committee shall convene and regulate the proceeding. All parties and members of the panel must be present during the proceeding unless excused by the chair for good cause. Repeated failure, without reasonable explanation, of either party to appear shall be grounds for defaulting that party's case. The complainant shall have the burden of presenting the case and the respondent shall have the burden of challenging sufficiency of the evidence presented.
   9. Opportunity shall be afforded all parties to respond and present evidence and argument on all issues involved and to examine and cross-examine witnesses.
   10. The proceeding panel shall be empowered to: examine witnesses and receive evidence; suspend the proceeding on account of or exclude from attendance any person(s) felt to be unreasonably disruptive of the proceedings; hold conferences for the settlement and/or simplification of the issues involved; make decisions or proposals for decisions; and take any other action authorized by rule consistent with this procedure.
   11. No individual shall be compelled to divulge information in any form which she/he could not be compelled to divulge in, or in connection with, superior court proceedings.
       1. Any legal opinion or interpretation given to the equal opportunity grievance committee by the parties may be shared with all parties to the case.
       2. The equal opportunity grievance committee shall file its findings and recommendations with the president, the director of the office for equal opportunity, the complainant and the respondent within fifteen working days after the conclusion of the proceeding. If the findings and recommendations of the equal opportunity grievance committee are acceptable to the complainant and the respondent, the president may direct implementation of the recommendations.
9. If the complainant or respondent objects to the findings and recommendations and wishes to appeal, a written appeal may be submitted to the president within ten working days from the date the report is delivered to the complainant and the respondent. The appeal must specify in detail the findings, recommendations or other aspects of the report or decision to which exception is taken, as well as the reasons for the exceptions and the desired corrective action after consideration.
10. After considering an appeal, the president shall issue a written decision to the parties involved within ten working days of receipt of the appeal. The decision of the president will not be further appealable by the complainant within the university.