Operating Procedures for Complaints Related to Intellectual Diversity
Effective Date: July 1, 2024
Filing a Complaint
Students, faculty, and staff of the University may file a complaint when they believe a faculty member, lecturer, teaching assistant, or other employee or individual assigned teaching responsibilities has not:
- Fostered a culture of free inquiry, free expression, and intellectual diversity;
- Exposed students to scholarly works from a variety of political or ideological frameworks within and applicable to the given academic discipline;
- Refrained from subjecting students to views and opinions concerning matters not related to the discipline or assigned course of instruction; or
- Adequately performed their academic duties and obligations.
Written complaints may be filed with Human Resources for the campus where the named employee works. The complaint must be filed in a timely manner and should be addressed to the Vice President or Vice Chancellor for Human Resources, as the case may be. The Vice President or Vice Chancellor for Human Resources will provide a copy of the complaint to the instructor within 10 days of receipt and afford the instructor an opportunity to provide a written response.
Review of Complaints
The Vice President or Vice Chancellor of Human Resources, in consultation with the Provost or the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, or their designee, will review complaints and communicate with the complainant and instructor regarding their determination.
In the event the employee against whom the complaint was filed is found not to have met the intellectual diversity criteria listed above, the employee may be subject to appropriate disciplinary action.
Reporting
Human Resources reports the outcome of a complaint to the parties and the instructor’s supervisor as applicable for consideration in performance reviews.
Human Resources provides to the Diversity Committee for their campus a report on complaints filed in the format and with the frequency determined by the committee.
Not later than April 1 of each year, each campus of the University submits to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education a report regarding this complaint process and the complaints filed pursuant to it.
History and updates
July 1, 2024: These are the first operating procedures to address this issue.