EKU seeks to have tenure case moved

EKU News

November 16, 2009

Brian Smith The Richmond Register Mon Nov 16, 2009, 08:05 AM EST

Attorneys for Eastern Kentucky University have filed to have a tenure discrimination suit against the school moved to a federal courtroom.

A notice of removal was filed in U.S. District Court in Lexington on Tuesday seeking to have marketing professor F. Mark Case’s suit against the university transferred out of Madison Circuit Court, where Case filed the suit Oct. 13.

The notice claims that because Case’s suit raises issues of whether the university violated his due process rights under the U.S. Constitution, the federal court should have jurisdiction.

Case filed the suit against the university, the board of regents and the chair of the management, marketing and administrative communication department after he was not offered a tenured teaching position and was instead offered a non-tenured professor position.

The suit alleges that EKU violated its own policies and procedures as well as state and federal laws in the decision.

Case had spent five years as an assistant professor and had generally received positive reviews for the first three years, the suit claims.

However, he claims that in his fourth evaluation, in December 2007, “the last page of the evaluation contains gratuitous, vague and unsubstantiated references to unprofessional behavior ...” by Case and makes reference only to anecdotal complaints by faculty, students and administrators.

After Case submitted a rebuttal to department chair Lana Carnes, the negative comments were not removed from the evaluation, and despite a promised investigation into the situation by the university’s general counsel, no changes were made, the suit alleges.

In Case’s 2008 review, he claims that Carnes submitted a separate report as part of the review. Case’s suit states the report recommended he not be reappointed to a tenure-track position because he was not making sufficient progress toward gaining tenure.

Case appealed the ruling, but administrators denied the appeal, and university president Doug Whitlock sent him a letter in early 2009 saying Case would not be recommended for tenure at a board of regents meeting.

In a response to the suit, EKU denied the allegations that administrators violated any university policies, procedures or state and federal laws in making their decisions.

Madison Circuit Judge William G. Clouse has been assigned to hear the case if it remains in state court.

Brian Smith may be reached at bsmith@richmondregister.com or at 624-6694.

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