Washington Administrative Code
Title 132B - Grays Harbor College
Chapter 132B-128 - Policies and procedures for tenure and dismissal
Section 132B-128-050 - Procedures for dismissal

(1) A dismissal review committee created for the express purpose of hearing dismissal cases shall be established no later than October 15 of each academic year (except if this provision is passed after October 15 of any academic year, the dismissal review committee will be chosen within thirty days after passage of this provision), and shall be comprised of the following members:

(2) When the president receives or initiates a formal written recommendation about a faculty member which may warrant dismissal, he shall inform that faculty member. Within ten days after having been so informed, the faculty member will be afforded an opportunity to meet with the president or his designee and the chairman of the division. At this preliminary meeting, which shall be an information-gathering session, an adjustment may be mutually agreed upon. If the matter is not settled or adjusted to the satisfaction of the college president, he shall recommend that the faculty member be dismissed.

(3) If the president recommends that the faculty member be dismissed, he shall:

(4) After receiving the president's recommendation for dismissal, the affected professional may request a hearing within the following five days. If the president does not receive this request within five days, the professional's right to a hearing will be deemed waived.

(5) If the president receives a request for a hearing, the dismissal review committee shall, after receiving the written recommendation from the college president, establish a date for a committee hearing giving the faculty member so charged twenty days notice of such hearing, and inform in writing the faculty member so charged of the time, date and place of such hearing.

(6) The dismissal review committee shall:

(7) The dismissal review committee shall include a neutral presiding officer appointed by the appointing authority. Such presiding or hearing officer shall not be a voting member of the committee; it shall be his responsibility to:

(8) A copy of the above shall be transcribed and furnished upon request to the faculty member whose case is being heard.

(9) The hearing shall be closed. However, interested parties, including but not limited to faculty members and students, will be given an opportunity to present evidence.

(10) Within ten college calendar days of the conclusion of the hearing, the dismissal review committee will arrive at its recommendations in conference on the basis of the hearing. Before doing so, it should give the faculty member or his counsel(s) and the representative designated by the president of the college the opportunity to argue orally before it. If written briefs would be helpful, the dismissal review committee may request them. The dismissal review committee may proceed to a recommendation promptly or await the availability of a transcript if making a fair recommendation would be aided thereby. Within fifteen college calendar days of the conclusion of the hearing the president of the college, the faculty member and the board of trustees will be presented with recommendations in writing and given a copy of the record of the hearing.

(11) The board of trustees shall meet within a reasonable time subsequent to its receipt of the dismissal review committee recommendations to consider those recommendations. The board of trustees shall afford the parties the right to oral and written argument with respect to whether they will dismiss the faculty member involved. The board of trustees may hold such other proceedings as they deem advisable before reaching their decision. A record of the proceedings at the board level shall be made and the final decision shall be based only upon the record made before the board and the dismissal review committee, including the briefs and oral arguments. The decision to dismiss or not to dismiss shall rest, with respect to both the facts and the decision, with the board of trustees after giving reasonable consideration to the recommendations of the dismissal review committee. The dismissal review committee's recommendations shall be advisory only and in no respect binding in fact or law upon the decision maker, the board of trustees. The board of trustees shall within fifteen days following the conclusion of their review, notify the charged faculty member in writing of its final decision.

(12) Suspension of the faculty member by the president during the administrative proceedings involving him (prior to the final decision of the board of trustees) is justified if immediate harm to himself or others is threatened by his continuance. Any such suspension shall be with pay.

(13) Except for such simple announcements as may be required covering the time of the hearing and similar matters, no public statements about the case shall be made by the faculty member, the dismissal review committee or administrative officers of the board of trustees until all administrative proceedings and appeals have been completed.

(14) Any dismissed faculty member shall have the right to appeal the final decision of the board of trustees within ten days of the receipt of the notice of dismissal. The filing of an appeal shall not stay enforcement of the decision of the board of trustees.

(15) If the president of Grays Harbor College initiates a formal written recommendation that a faculty member be dismissed and the board of trustees decides to retain the faculty member, or if the trustees' decision to dismiss a faculty member is reversed by a court, all evidence concerning the dismissal will be removed from the faculty member's permanent personnel file if the reason for the denial of the recommendation was the president's failure to establish the facts which were the basis for the dismissal recommendation.

If the facts which were the basis for the dismissal recommendation were shown to the satisfaction of the trustees and the courts, but the dismissal recommendation was not followed because the trustees or the courts decided that the facts were not sufficient to warrant dismissal, the facts which were shown would be retained in the faculty member's permanent personnel file along with a record of the outcome of the dismissal proceeding.

If the facts are to be retained in the faculty member's permanent personnel file, the faculty member will be given an opportunity to review the facts and to write an explanation which will be retained along with the findings of fact.