Case: Chris Walker

CASE: Chris Walker: Department of Business

INTRODUCTION

Chris Walker is a tenured professor of business at a small teaching college in the Midwest. The business department is Judi Jackson who is in her first year as chair. Six faculty members including Chris, have been in the department for longer than Judi.

On the collegewide level, there is no policy about the job of graduate assistants. Judi asked the dean of the SAS what the policy was. The dean stated that there is no policy. The dean and vice president suggested letting the individual departments develop their own policy regarding what graduate assistants can and cannot do.

During the department meeting, Chris was the only faculty member who was using graduate assistants to grade exams. All but one faculty members spoke out against the use of having graduate assistants grade exams. Other faculty members believed it was the job of professor to grade the exams. After the meeting, one other member of the department, Ted Brown, who had said nothing during the meeting, told Chris that he agreed that it is not fair to deny him use of a graduate assistant.

There was no department concensus, as judi hoped there would be. Judi said that she would draft a department policy, which would be discussed at a future Department of Business meeting.

The next day, Chris sent memo to department members asking if it was ethical and legal to deny him use of the same resources as others across the campus. He also stated that if the department set policy stating that he could no longer use graduate assistants to correct objective exams, he would appeal the policy decision to the dean, the vice president, and the president.

THE PROBLEM

There is no policy on the collegewide level about the job of graduate assistants.

In the department meeting, there was no concensus on a policy about the job of graduate assistants. One faculty member disagree of having the department set a policy.

OBJECTIVES

To have a policy on...