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Due Process Before Discharge or the Imposition of Serious Sanctions

  1. A Faculty Member, who is the beneficiary of institutional guarantees of tenure, shall enjoy protection against unjust and arbitrary application of disciplinary penalties. During the period of such guarantees the Faculty Member may be discharged from employment, suspended or demoted in rank only for reasons of incompetence, neglect of duty, or misconduct of such nature as to indicate that the individual is unfit to continue as a member of the faculty. These penalties may be imposed only in accordance with the procedures prescribed in this section. For purposes of these regulations, a Faculty Member serving a stated term shall be regarded as having tenure until the end of that term. These procedures shall not apply to nonreappointment (Section VI) or termination of employment (Section X).
  2. The Chief Academic Officer (provost) or his/her designee shall send the Faculty Member by Formal Notice a written statement of intention to discharge the faculty member or impose serious sanctions together with a written specification of the reasons. The specifications of reasons and the notice shall be sent by a method of mail or delivery that requests a signature for delivery and shall include notice of the Faculty Member’s right, upon request to a hearing by the Hearing Committee on Discharge and Nonreappointment.

  3. If, within 14 calendar days after receiving the notice and written specifications referred to in subsection VIII.B above, the Faculty Member makes no written request for a hearing, the faculty member may be discharged without recourse to any institutional grievance or appellate procedure.

    If the Faculty Member makes a timely written request for a hearing, the Chancellor or his/her designee shall ensure that the hearing is timely accorded before the Hearing Committee on Discharge and Nonreappointment. The hearing shall be on the written specifications of reasons for the intended discharge. The hearing committee shall accord the Faculty Member 30 calendar days from the time it receives the written request for a hearing to prepare a defense. The hearing committee may, upon the Faculty Member’s written request and for good cause, extend this time by written notice to the Faculty Member. The hearing committee will ordinarily endeavor to complete the hearing within 90 calendar days except under unusual circumstances such as when a hearing request is received during official university breaks or holidays and despite reasonable efforts the hearing committee cannot be assembled.

  4. The hearing shall be closed to the public unless the Faculty Member and the hearing committee agree that it may be open. The Faculty Member shall have the right to counsel, to present the testimony of witnesses and other evidence, to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses and to examine all documents and other adverse demonstrative evidence, and to make argument. Both the chancellor or his/her designee and the Faculty Member will be allowed to have counsel to participate in the hearing to present evidence, cross-examine witnesses, and make argument or neither will have a counsel acting in this role). A written Transcript of all proceedings shall be kept; upon request a copy thereof shall be furnished to the Faculty Member at the institution’s expense.
  5. The provost, or his/her designee or counsel, may participate in the hearing to present testimony of witnesses and other evidence, to cross-examine witnesses, to examine all documents and other evidence, and to make argument. Both the provost or his/her designee and the Faculty Member will be allowed to have counsel to participate in the hearing to present evidence, cross-examine witnesses, and make argument or neither will have a counsel acting in this role.
  6. In reaching decisions on which its written recommendations to the chancellor shall be based, the committee shall consider only the evidence presented at the hearing and such written and oral arguments as the committee, in its discretion, may allow. The university has the burden of proof. In evaluating evidence, the committee shall use the standard of “clear and convincing” evidence in determining whether the university has met its burden of showing that permissible grounds for serious sanctions exist and are the basis for the recommended action. The committee shall make its written recommendations to the chancellor within 14 calendar days after its hearing concludes or after the full transcript is received, whichever is later.
  7. If the chancellor concurs in a recommendation of the committee that is favorable to the Faculty Member, his/her decision shall be final. If the chancellor either declines to accept a committee recommendation that is favorable to the faculty member or concurs in a committee recommendation that is unfavorable to the Faculty Member, the Faculty Member may appeal the chancellor’s decision to the Board of Trustees. This appeal shall be transmitted through the chancellor and be addressed to the chair of the Board. Notice of appeal shall be filed within 14 calendar days after the Faculty Member receives the chancellor’s decision. The appeal to the Board of Trustees shall be decided by the full Board of Trustees. However, the Board may delegate the duty of conducting a hearing to a standing or ad hoc committee of a least three members. The Board of Trustees or its committee shall consider the appeal on the evidence submitted at the hearing and the written Transcript of hearings held by the faculty hearing committee, but it may, in its discretion, hear such other evidence, as it deems necessary. The Board of Trustees’ decision shall be made as soon as reasonably possible after the chancellor has received the Faculty Member’s request for an appeal to the trustees. This decision shall be final, except for an appeal to the Board of Governors pursuant to Section IX.G, below, by filing a written notice of appeal, by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by another means that provides proof of delivery, with the Board of Governors if the faculty member alleges that one or more specified provisions of the Code of the University of North Carolina have been violated. Any such appeal to the Board of Governors shall be transmitted through the president.
  8. When a faculty member has been notified of the university’s intention to discharge the faculty member, the chancellor may reassign the individual to other duties or suspend the faculty member at any time until a final decision concerning discharge has been reached by the procedures described herein. Suspension shall be exceptional and shall be with full pay.