Update from Pres. Owen on Investigative Procedures

William F. Owen, Jr., MD
President, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

April 8, 2009—I want to express gratitude for your assistance as we work towards enhancing our investigatory procedures for official complaints involving faculty and non-faculty staff members, and the subsequent process of disciplinary action, if so needed. Over the last several months, many of you have shared your thoughts on how to make these procedures more transparent, intuitive, respectful and balanced. I am pleased to offer this brief update.

Several members of my Cabinet have been working with faculty leaders, organized labor leaders, and academic administrators within and outside the University to develop improved procedures that will: (1) triage complaints by the type of issue(s) involved, (2) refer complaints to the group within the University with the greatest content knowledge about the matter in question, (3) expedite and enhance the investigatory process without compromising the rights of any of the individuals involved and (4) render an unambiguous finding regarding the validity of the charge. We also expect that the finding will be complete, fair, and non-prejudicial. We expect that the revised procedures will direct the majority of investigations back to the academic unit where they originated. The remaining investigations will be conducted by the appropriate department within the University’s central administration or by the investigations team.

No matter how an investigation is handled, the same principles for conduct should apply. Jim Rowan, our acting leader of Audit and Investigations, has incorporated many of your suggestions into a draft procedure for investigations performed by the University’s Investigations Unit. However, because most investigations will in all likelihood be performed by other sectors of the University, we again request your input as similar procedures are developed for the academic units.

Disciplinary action should be viewed and treated as a separate and distinct process from investigations of potential wrong-doing. In cases where disciplinary action is warranted, it should be tightly linked to the findings from the investigation, but should not be part of the investigations process. Recommendations of disciplinary action will not come from an investigative team. I have asked Dr. Denise Rodgers, as our senior academic officer, to work with our schools’ deans, organized labor leaders and you to develop similar, highly ordered processes for handling disciplinary actions. For faculty, unless a crime has occurred or there is risk of harm to a person or property, disciplinary procedures need to originate and be managed by the appropriate academic unit. There is an expectation that all disciplinary procedures and outcomes, whether involving a faculty or non-faculty member, will comply with our collective bargaining rules. Just as I am seeking your input in revisions to the investigatory processes, I also welcome your assistance in developing and refining our disciplinary procedures. We will obtain input from organized labor leaders and faculty organizations to assure that the investigative and disciplinary procedures follow these principles.

My expectation is that we will begin our next academic year with these procedural improvements in place. Given that timeline, I would like to present our revised procedures to the UMDNJ Board of Trustees for their approval at the July meeting.

As always, I thank you for your continued commitment to accelerating our success at the University.

William F. Owen, Jr., M.D.
President