FEC | Conflict Resolution Committee
The Faculty Conflict Resolution Committee ( FCRC ) was created at a Faculty Assembly meeting during the 1999 spring semester. Accordingly, the FCRC shall be a standing committee of the UNM-Valencia Faculty Assembly; committee members will be "on call" should a dispute arise and will act in accordance with UNM-Valencia Faculty Grievance Procedures. The FCRC chair will be available to immediately respond to any faculty-involved dispute as soon as the dispute comes to the chair's attention. The FCRC committee structure and process may be the first step of a coordinated grievance procedure that also involves the established procedures published in the UNM-Valencia Faculty Procedural Handbook (latest issue). It is hoped that such an informal faculty conflict resolution team will be able to do its work quickly and effectively to resolve any faculty dispute before positions harden to a point where the more formal grievance procedures are requested.
I. Structure
- The UNM Valencia Faculty Conflict Resolution Committee ( FCRC ) shall be composed entirely of volunteers recruited from full- and part-time faculty ranks and subject to procedures for standing committees of the Assembly.
- Committee members shall choose a chair who serves for a one year term.
- Upon notification of a faculty-involved dispute--by a department chair/coordinator or other campus administrator, Faculty Assembly President, or faculty involved in the dispute--the FCRC Chair shall initiate a Faculty Conflict Resolution Process as outlined below:
II. Process
- The FCRC Chair shall recommend that the disputants immediately attempt a resolution, of the conflict, in a face-to-face meeting.
- If the dispute is not resolved at step 1, the FCRC Chair or a designated committee member shall meet with the parties--as a neutral mediator--to informally resolve the dispute.
- If the dispute is not resolved at step 2, the FCRC shall call 2 volunteers from the FCRC roster--whose affiliations are most relevant to the conflict and disputants--to hear a more detailed discussion of the dispute. The disputants shall have two weeks, from the day these volunteers are named by the chair, to submit a written, detailed report of the dispute to the FCRC volunteers for their suggested resolution. Those FCRC members designated to resolve the dispute shall have five working days, after receiving the report (s) to submit their resolution to the disputants.
- If the dispute is not resolved at step 3, The FCRC Chair shall convene a hearing to be held before the entire Committee assembled for this purpose. The hearing shall proceed following the principles of a judicial proceeding, with each party presenting its case together with necessary evidence and/or witnesses, including the opportunity to rebut any evidence and consider the testimony of any witness. The FCRC assembled for this dispute will then submit its recommendation in writing to each of the concerned parties, in no more than one week after the hearing, and to the relevant department chair/coordinator, and the Dean of Instruction for the resolution of the dispute within two weeks.
It should be emphasized that faculty members involved in any dispute always have the opportunity to take whatever steps they feel are appropriate to deal with the conflict. However, it is the sincere hope of the FCRC that the structure and process for faculty mediation, outlined above, will be able to resolve every dispute that comes to its attention. If either or both parties to a faculty dispute decide that the informal FCRC process has failed, the more formal Faculty (Academic Freedom) Grievance Procedure may be initiated.



