# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1971_S171
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

RESOLUTIONS

of Directors of the Synod for study and that it report
back to the 1973 synodical convention.

Action: Referred under omnibus resolution to Board
of Directors for study and report to the next convention.

6. HIGHER EDUCATION

To Adopt “Handbook” Changes Regarding
Removal from Office (Faculties)

RESOLUTION 6-01
Overture 6-40 (CW, pp. 317—319)

Wuereas, Resolution 6-37 of the Denver convention
(1969) requests the Synod’s Board for Higher Educa-
ticn to prepare a revision of Handbook sections 6.75,
6.77, 6.81, and 6.83 in consultation with the Commission
on Constitutional Matters and with appropriate legal
authorities, for the consideration of the next convention
and for inclusion in the official Handbook of the Synod;
therefore be it

Resolved, That the following proposed Handbook
changes be adopted:

6.75 (No change except to omit parenthetical
phrase)

6.77 Removal from Office

a. The Board of Control may decline to renew
the appointment of a faculty member without per-
manent tenure at the time of the expiration of the
term of the appointment, in accordance with para-
graph 6.53 c.

b. No member of the faculty who has been
granted permanent tenure and no member of the
faculty without permanent tenure at times other
than upon the expiration of the term of his appoint-
ment shall be removed from the faculty except for
causes hereinafter enumerated and by procedures
hereinafter described.

ce. The only causes for which a member of the
faculty may be removed from office (within the
definitions of a and b above), other than honorable
retirement, are:

1. professional incompetency;

2. incapacity for the performance of duty because
of physical, mental, or emotional disabilities;

3. refusal to cooperate;
4. neglect of or refusal to perform duties of office;
5. conduct unbecoming a Christian;

6. advocacy of false doctrine (Constitution, Ar-
ticle II).

6.78 Procedure re Conduct Unbecoming a Chris-
tian or Advocacy of False Doctrine

a. If any person desires to bring a complaint of
conduct unbecoming a Christian or advocacy of
false doctrine against any member of the faculty
of an educational institution of the Synod, he shall
first in a spirit of Christian love communicate di-
rectly with the person against whom he has a com-
plaint and attempt to find a peaceful and amiable
resolution of the matter.

b. If this procedure fails and if the complainant
desires to pursue the matter, he shall bring his
complaint in writing to the president of the institu-
tion and request his assistance in bringing about
a resolution of the matter. Complaints against the

171

president of the institution shall be brought in writ-
ing to the chairman of the Board of Control.

c. If also this procedure fails, the complainant
may formally request the president of the institu-
tion, as the executive officer of the Board of Control,
to convey his complaint as a formal charge to the
Board of Control. The president is required to con-
vey the complaint to the next regularly scheduled
meeting of the Board of Control. He shall notify
the accused person of the identity of the complain-
ant and the nature of the charges which have been
brought and provide him with a copy of the evi-
dence which has been submitted.

d. If the complainant is the president of the in-
stitution, he shall bring his complaint directly to the
Beard of Control, but only after he has communi-
cated directly with the person against whom he has
a complaint and has attempted to bring about a
peaceful resolution of the matter. The president
shall provide the accused with a copy of the com-
plaint and of the supporting evidence.

e. After receiving the complaint, the Board of
Control shall decide whether to proceed with a
further investigation of the matter or to request the
assistance of other persons to resolve the matter or,
for lack of sufficient substance to the complaint or
to the evidence presented, to drop the complaint.

f. The Board of Control may request the com-
plainant(s) to meet with it with the purpose of
bringing about a peaceful resolution. The com-
plainant(s) shall have the privilege of being accom-
panied by counsel of choice.

g. The Board of Control shall request the person
against whom a complaint has been made to meet
with it. The purpose of this meeting shall be to seek
a peaceful resolution of the issue. The person com-
plained against shall have the privilege of being
accompanied by counsel of choice.

h. If the Board of Control decides by formal
vote to charge a member of the faculty with a
cause for which he may be removed from the fac-
ulty, it shall first direct the executive officer to
cause the faculty hearings committee to be con-
vened and to hold a hearing with respect to the
validity of the charge which has been made. This
requirement shall be in force whether the person
complained against does or does not have perma-
nent tenure (except that the Board of Control may
resolve not to renew the contract of a nontenure
faculty member without formal statement of cause
upon the expiration of his contract period).

i. Not less than two weeks prior to the date set
for the hearing, the president of the institution shall
send copies of a formal communication to the ac-
cused and to the chairman of the faculty hearings
committee containing (a) a statement of the charge
or charges, (b) a summary of the evidence on
which the charges are based, (c) a statement that
the faculty hearings committee will conduct a hear-
ing and that the time and place thereof shall be
determined by the hearings committee, (d) a for-
mal invitation to the accused to attend the hearing,
and (e) a statement to the accused that he is en-
titled to counsel.

j. Not less than one week prior to the date set
for the hearing, the accused shall submit to the
president and to the hearings committee his written
answer to the charges or he shall state that he de-
sires no hearing to be held.

k. If the accused fails to answer the president’s
statement of charges or states that he desires no
hearing to be held, the hearings committee shall
consider whether the grounds stated constitute ade-
quate cause for dismissal and, in its discretion,
may independently investigate the truth of the
charges.

l. If a hearing is held, it shall be private. How-
ever, the president or his representative, and the
accused and his advisers shall have the right to be