Grievance Information prior to June 1, 2002

The Council of Academic Professionals (CAP) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign considers matters of concern to both the academic professional staff and to the University. By authority of the University of Illinois Statutes, Article II, Section 5, the CAP is empowered to investigate grievances submitted by academic professional staff members and to make recommendations to the Chancellor or the President1 based upon its findings. Procedures for its investigations are outlined in the "CAP Articles of Procedure" and appear in the Academic Staff Handbook.

The CAP does not hear grievances based upon complaints of illegal discrimination and harassment. The procedures for such grievances are described in the August 30, 1993, document, "Policy and Procedures for Addressing Discrimination and Harassment, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign."

The CAP subscribes to the tenets of the Rothbaum Committee Report (refn. 2) as they relate to the evaluation of individual behavior and/or circumstances of employment:
"There are five basic sources against which the behavior of individuals or the circumstances of employment can be evaluated:

1.The contract of employment;

2.Overriding legal requirements, such as those prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, religion, or sex;

3.Generalized concepts of good management practice, such as those which would dictate that employees be adequately informed of their duties and the quality of their performance;

4.Generalized concepts of the traditional responsibilities of employment, such as those which would dictate that employees perform their assigned tasks in a conscientious and competent manner;

5.Generalized concepts of appropriate and traditional reciprocal courtesies which would attend professional employment, such as those which, affirmatively, would dictate a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation, and negatively, would proscribe conduct that would interfere with the effective performance of the duties and responsibilities of others."
These tenets form the cornerstone of the CAP approach to conflict resolution. The CAP strongly encourages attempts to resolve problems through informal discussions at the lowest possible administrative level, typically with the academic professional's immediate supervisor. Such discussions may progress to higher-level administrators when resolution
cannot be accomplished at lower levels. The CAP believes amicable mutual settlement of issues is preferable to formal grievance procedures, because such settlement is more conducive to a satisfactory continuing employment relationship. Formal grievance procedures should be invoked only after good-faith informal efforts have left all or part of the problem unresolved.

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