The Graduate Student Senate is poised to end months of discussion and vote on new protocol that would vastly change the way graduate students address grievances with faculty members.

Since December, the senate has been discussing a bill that aims to give students a simpler way to address grievances with professors.

A smaller committee has been investigating the legislation’s feasibility since January and is prepared to bring it to the floor for discussion after spring break, Senate Chairwoman Susan Adams-Johnson said.

New proposals

Nicholas Harrison, law student and author of the bill, said the legislation calls for clear guidelines for faculty on how to resolve conflicts in the classroom.

Harrison emphasized the bill is not implying there is a broad problem of misconduct in the classroom.

“By writing this bill, I’m not necessarily saying that the faculty is getting away with a whole bunch of stuff or that they are the bad guys here,” Harrison said. “But whenever isolated incidents happen, there needs to be a system in place to deal with that.”

The bill recommends OU compile and release an annual report that includes statistics and information for all professional misconduct complaints filed by students.

It also suggests OU create an ombudsman position to handle all professional misconduct complaints and to advise students when there is a complaint.

Harrison’s bill requests the vice president of Student Affairs assemble a task force to carry out the bill’s provisions.

Currently, students have several avenues to file a complaint against a faculty member. Most can be handled by the Equal Opportunity Office and are addressed in policies posted online.

The President’s Action Line, 325-1212, is another option for students to bring comments, concerns and questions directly to President David Boren’s office.

Legislative limbo

The bill is drawing wide support from senators, yet many have voiced concerns that the bill is too vague and doesn’t define “professional misconduct.” The ad hoc committee of students and faculty reviewing the bill will convene for the last time after spring break. The committee members have taken their time in discussing this legislation because they want to get the wording right, Senate member Michael Ukpong said.

“Legislation is binding in the wording that it is written in, so we are always very careful in which words we use. We pride ourselves in actually taking longer to look at something to make sure the language is okay,” Ukpong, a botany graduate student, said.

Adams-Johnson said she is concerned with getting a realistic view on which parts of the bill will be implemented by the university.

“Students can make any resolution they want, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to bind the administrative body unless they want to, out of their own benevolence, agree. They are the final authority. It’s a lot easier to include them in the conversation from as [early] as possible,” Ukpong said. “Perhaps, we can meet as close to middle ground as possible.”

Harrison said if the bill passes the Graduate Senate, he will take it to the Undergraduate Congress for consideration.