Faculty Senate will not impeach chairwoman

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee will not proceed with the impeachment of Chairwoman Cam Brammer.

   A cal for impeachment was made at last month's Faculty Senate meeting, Dallas Brozik, professor of economics, read a letter signed by 10 faculty members saying Brammer has not done enough to investigate allegations of grade changing within the College of Education and Human Services.

   "Impeachment will not occur," said Maurice Lockridge, assistant Faculty Senate chairman.
   Lockridge said the Executive Committee conducted an extensive investigation into the allegations against Brammer.

   "This is a matter of someone not following procedure," Lockridge said of the grade changing allegations. "We will follow procedure."

   The Faculty Senate constitution does not outline the impeachment process. However, an officer's election can be rescinded. Article 6 Section 5E says at least 10 faculty signatures are required for the Executive Committee to form an ad hoc committee to investigate grounds for rescinding the election.

   "There is no provision for the impeachment of an officer," Lockridge said. "Therefore, it will not occur."

   Lockridge put together a timeline showing that Brammer charged the Budget and Academic Policy Committee with investigating the grade change allegations.

   Lockridge said the Executive Committee found that Brammer "acted both timely and proactively" in investigating the matter.

   However, Brozik disagrees. He said the Executive Committee "knowingly and repeatedly" violated the Faculty Senate constitution.

   Brozik said the constitution says the faculty is sovereign and delegates some rights to the Faculty Senate. He said the senators are acting more like clerks.

    "You have squandered more than 20 years of shared governance here at Marshall," Brozik said. Your grade for the semester is an F."

   He encouraged the senators to read the Faculty Senate constitution over winter break, and then invoke Article 6 Section 5C to rescind Brammer's election.

   "I think most of the senators have read the constitution," Brammer said. "I simply think Dallas (Brozik) is wrong, but everyone is entitled to his own opinion."

    "If you read Article 6 Section 5E, the faculty can submit any call they want, so the call for impeachment is now an external document, but they still have to act upon it," Brozik said.

   He said the Executive Committee's findings are invalid because they did not appoint an ad hoc committee to investigate the impeachment. He said the Executive Committee cannot investigate and must pass the investigation on to a third party within the Faculty Senate.
   "They have to send it to the outside," Brozik said. "Their findings have no standing under the constitution."

   The next Faculty Senate meeting is Jan. 28 in the Don Morris Room.

   Whitney Burdette can be contacted at burdette56@marshall.edu.