Court Opinion

ID: 9618383
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:11:48.584873+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:29.689590
License: Public Domain

*723Neely, Justice,
dissenting:
At the two-day hearing on the firing of Dr. Paul A. Clarke sixteen witnesses testified. Fifteen witnesses testified against Dr. Clarke; his own self-serving testimony was the only dissent to the unanimous conclusion that he deserved to be fired.
The hearing examiner, who was obviously persuaded by the overwhelming evidence against the professor, concluded that “the evidence which came from other tenured faculty members... was particularly impressive.” As the majority opinion notes, the hearing examiner is not required by statute to make written findings of fact and conclusions of law, nor should his statements “amount to a full opinion or even formal findings of fact and conclusions of law.” Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254, 271 (1970). Yet in the face of the massive evidence against the professor, our Court has required that a hearing examiner list specific charges and provide reference to the evidence, a procedural hurdle demanded neither by statute nor case law.
At its heart, this case stands for the proposition that a tenured professor cannot be fired unless the university follows a maze of technical regulations and precedures without a single slip. Our creation of an endless system of “Simple Simon” and “Mother May I” procedure has virtually removed the college president’s primary method for ensuring competence among our college professors: the power to fire.
Certainly tenure protects professors against narrow political firings, but it is not intended to provide complete job security that permits an employee to do nothing but collect his check. At a time when we read everyday of the failures of our public education system, the continued employment of incompetent teachers should be eliminated. Undoubtedly today’s majority decision will furtherdestroy the remaining morale among college professors and teachers who are dedicated to the profession of educating the young. As I have pointed out before, the schools should be run for the students.