In 
a 
statement 
released 

early Monday morning, the 
Senate Advisory Committee 
on 
University 
Affairs 
at 

the University of Michigan 
addressed 
the 
recent 

letter issued by LSA Interim 
Dean 
Elizabeth 
Cole 

regarding the retraction of 
a recommendation letter by 
Associate 
Professor 
John 

Cheney-Lippold. 
SACUA 

stressed the importance of 
“academic freedom and the 
rights and responsibilities of 
academic tenure.”

The statement comes after 

an earlier statement released 
Sept. 24 from SACUA, revealing 
their 
“disappointment” 

in a professor that would 
allow 
his 
personal 
beliefs 

to 
limit 
opportunity 
for 

University 
students. 
The 

earlier 
document 
echoes 

the statement produced by 
University President Schlissel 
and Provost Martin Philbert 
advocating for the creation 
of a panel that would attempt 
to find a balance between 
political 
ideology 
and 

professors’ 
commitment 
to 

their students, and ultimately 

placed 
emphasis 
on 
the 

notion that “faculty members’ 
personal 
political 
beliefs 

cannot interfere with their 
obligations to our students.”

However, 
the 
new 

proclamation 
specifically 

pertains to the letter by Cole 
which reveals the sanctions 
placed 
on 
Cheney-Lippold 

by the administration. These 
sanctions 
restrict 
Cheney-

Lippold from receiving a salary 
increase for one year and voids 
him of sabbatical credits for 
two years.

These penalties followed 

Cheney-Lippold’s refusal to 
pen a recommendation letter 
for LSA junior Abigail Ingber 
after learning her study abroad 
location was in Israel. Shortly 
after, 
Rackham 
student 

Lucy 
Peterson 
followed 

suit, refusing to deliver a letter 
for a student wishing to study 
in the same area.

Peterson 
wrote 
in 

an op-ed published by The 
Daily that her “action attests 
to (her) ongoing engagement 
with the theory and practice 
of social justice pedagogy 
as well as (her) concern for 
the 
injustices 
suffered 
by 

Palestinians.”

Shortly after, Cole addressed 

Cheney-Lippold 
directly 
in 

a letter published Oct. 3 and 
said future decisions to write 
a letter of recommendation 
should put students ahead of a 
political agenda.

“In the future, a student’s 

merit should be your primary 
guide for determining how and 
whether to provide a letter of 
recommendation,” Cole wrote. 
“You are not to use student 
requests for recommendations 
as a platform to discuss your 
personal political beliefs.”

In 
the 
new 
statement, 

SACUA said Cole’s response 
could 
possibly 
create 
“a 

chilling effect on members 
of the academic community 
who may, for legitimate and 
deeply held personal reasons, 
feel 
uncomfortable 
about 

providing letters to certain 
organizations or individuals.”

SACUA cited its previous 

statement, 
declaring 
the 

assembly wished to affirm 
a 
“community 
standard,” 

and 
thus 
objects 
to 
the 

preceding letter being used 
as 
“endorsement” 
for 
the 

disciplines placed on Cheney-
Lippold.

Similarly, 
SACUA 

reasserted their commitment 
to the American Association 
of 
University 
Professors’ 

Statement 
on 
Professional 

Ethics, which, again, places 
a 
student’s 
merit 
as 
the 

dominant factor in assessing a 
student’s request for a letter of 
recommendation.

However, 
Hans-Joerg 

Tiede, 
associate 
secretary 

of 
the 
AAUP, 
has 
also 

recently 
addressed 
the 

penalties placed on Cheney-
Lippold. 
Tiede 
suggested 

the 
University 
reconsider 

their 
decision, 
claiming 

the 
sanctions 
“violate 
the 

association’s standards of due 
process.”

SACUA 
emphasized 

recommendation letters are 
“personal 
endorsements,” 

and the declining of this act 
should not cultivate a fear of 
retribution. Moreover, SACUA 
stressed in the case of a member 
of the University community 
being so afraid that they might 
feel coerced to administer a 
letter or recommendation, or 
advocate for opinions they 
do not truly hold, would then 
lead to “the integrity of the 
recommendation 
(being) 

tarnished and the academic 
freedom that is central to 
our 
University 
(becoming) 

impugned.”

University responds to sexual 
misconduct,” 
interim 
OIE 

head Jeffery Frumkin said in 
the report. “These behaviors 
have no place at Michigan, 

and 
we 
encourage 
every 

member of our community 
who has concerns about sexual 
misconduct to reach out.”

Frumkin has taken up the 

role as Title IX Coordinator 
after Pamela Heatlie stepped 
down last week. Frumkin also 
will serve as the associate 

vice 
provost 
for 
academic 

and faculty affairs and senior 
director 
for 
institutional 

equity for OIE. According to 
the University, efforts to find 
a permanent replacement for 
head of OIE will begin soon.

Counting reports made from 

July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, 

OIE received 235 reports 
of 
sexual 
misconduct 

made by faculty and staff. 
232 of these reports were 
addressed by OIE, while the 
other three were addressed 
by 
Human 
Resources 

under applicable collective 
bargaining 
agreements. 

Approximately 90 reports 
were addressed by OIE 
during the previous year, 
indicating a 161 percent 
increase 
in 
reports 

received this year.

The 
majority 
of 

reports — 53 percent — 
were addressed with a 
consultation, while only 
11 percent of reports made 
resulted in an investigation.

According to the report, 

consultations are defined 
as “questions or reports 
that 
can 
be 
addressed 

appropriately 
without 
a 

review or investigation.” 
Of the 18 investigations 
completed at the time of 
the report’s release, seven 
investigations 
found 
no 

policy violation, five found 
inappropriate 
behavior 

(but not severe enough to 
be considered hostile) and 
seven were found to be policy 
violations.

Of the 10 corrective actions 

made by OIE as a result of these 
investigations, three instances 
resulted 
in 
termination 
of 

employment. In five instances 
in which OIE found a policy 
violation 
or 
inappropriate 

behavior, 
the 
respondent 

resigned. In two of these 
instances, 
the 
resignation 

occurred before the end of 
the investigation or before 
corrective action was enacted. 
In cases where the employee 
resigned, 
the 
employee 
is 

often not eligible for future 
University 
employment, 

according to the report.

During the past reporting 

year, OIE received 277 reports 
of sexual misconduct made 
by students, also seeing an 
increase in reports from the 
previous year Of these reports, 
the majority of issues reported 
were related to sexual assault 
or 
sexual 
harassment, 

representing 49 percent and 
28 percent of issues reported, 
respectively. 
Of 
reports 

made by students, only seven 
percent, or 20 cases, resulted 
in an investigation.

2 — Tuesday, October 23, 2018
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ADMINISTRATION

Latest statement addresses letter by LSA Interim Dean Elizabeth Cole, sanctioning of professor 

SACUA releases new statement in support 
of “academic freedom,” in rec. letter case

SAM SMALL

Daily Staff Reporter

