BRYN MAWR COLLEGE

The Policy of Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College is firmly committed to a policy of equal opportunity prohibiting discrimination based on occupationally irrelevant criteria or discriminatory behavior harmful to the well-being and productivity of any member of the College Community. These grievance procedures supplement the College's statement of principles regarding Equal Opportunity, Non-Discrimination, and Discriminatory Harassment and the Policy on Sexual and Other Forms of Harassment and Discrimination, in this Handbook.

The Equal Opportunity Officer and the Equal Opportunity Advisory Committee

Bryn Mawr College has an Equal Opportunity Officer who is available to all members of the community for consultation about any aspect of equal opportunity or discrimination. Faculty should feel free to consult with the Equal Opportunity Officer in confidence at any time about a grievance. The Equal Opportunity officer will suggest alternative options for resolving the grievance and will explain in detail the College's grievance procedures. The College also has an Equal Opportunity Advisory Committee which advises the President on the provision of equal opportunity in all areas of campus life.

The Purpose of the College's Procedures

The objective of the procedures is to resolve any claims of discrimination quickly and equitably. A faculty member who wishes to have an appointment-related equal opportunity grievance settled by Bryn Mawr College should use the following procedures. Please note that these procedures are to be carried out within specific time periods.

The Procedures

• Step 1
  If a faculty member believes s/he has been discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, age (above 40), national origin, handicap, or sex, including sexual harassment and sexual orientation, the faculty member shall within 15 days of the alleged discrimination discuss this grievance with his or her Department Chair, who shall try to resolve it.

• Step 2
  If the grievance is not resolved at Step 1, for any reason, the faculty member (or "grievant"), should within 20 days following the alleged discrimination submit to the Department Chair and to the Equal Opportunity Officer a signed, written statement indicating the nature of the grievance, and evidence on which it is based, the solution sought and the handling of the grievance to date.
  The Equal Opportunity Officer shall be available to assist the grievant in the preparation of his or her statement and to assist the Department Chair in gathering facts related to the grievance and attempting to resolve it.

• Step 3
  If the Department Chair, by the end of the twentieth day following receipt of the written statement, has not resolved the grievance, the grievant, to carry the grievance forward, must, within five days, file with the Equal Opportunity Officer a written request for a hearing before an Equal Opportunity Grievance Panel.
  The Equal Opportunity Officer shall, within five days, arrange for the Panel to hear the grievance and shall set a date for the hearing. The hearing must be set for a date within 20 days of the end of this ten day period.
  The ad hoc Equal Opportunity Grievance Panel shall have three members, chosen from among the three Secretaries of the Faculty, and those faculty members holding positions on the Bryn Mawr Committee for Institutional Priorities. The grievant shall choose one panel member from among these candidates and the President shall choose another. The two panel members thus chosen shall choose the third, and these three shall choose from among themselves a Chair.

• Step 4
  Promptly and in writing, the panel shall alert all parties whose testimony may be needed at the hearing as to the nature of the grievance, the date of the hearing and the procedures to be followed. Evidence shall be presented at the hearing in a fair and equitable manner, and all interested parties shall have the opportunity to be heard.
  The ad hoc Panel shall be responsible for determining whether the grievance has merit. If the Panel decides that the grievance does have merit, the Panel shall identify precisely at what point discrimination took place. The panel shall deliver its decision, in writing, to the Equal Opportunity Officer within 15 days of the hearing's conclusion. The Equal Opportunity Officer shall notify the grievant in writing of the Panel's decision within 3 days of receiving it.
  If the Panel decides that there was no discrimination, the grievant shall be so notified and there will be no further consideration of the grievance.

• Step 5
  If the Panel decides, at Step 4, that the grievance does have merit, the Panel shall recommend to the President that corrective action be taken. It may, at its discretion, also suggest what form this action might take. The panel shall present its decision and any recommendations in writing to the President and Equal Opportunity Officer within 15 days of the hearings conclusion. The Equal Opportunity Officer immediately shall notify the grievant of the same in writing.

  NOTE
  Vacation and weekend days shall not be included in the number of days allowed for any step in the Procedure.

  Extension of all time limits set forth above may be granted to any party involved in the resolution of the grievance in special circumstances at the discretion of the Equal Opportunity Officer. The time limits provided for the filing of charges of discrimination under local, state or federal law are not affected by the Procedures set forth above.

  The right to initiate the grievance procedures is available only to current faculty members. A faculty member whose contract has not been renewed and who wishes to file an E.O. complaint shall do so prior to the termination date of his or her contract, provided that this limitation shall not deprive a faculty member of the fifteen days allowed for the initiation of procedures in Step 1.

  The Equal Opportunity Officer can provide information concerning local, state, and federal agencies which have jurisdiction over discrimination complaints.

  Back to the top, to the Handbook index, to the Provost's website.

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  Maintained by the Office of the Provost.
  Posted Summer 2001.