Document 38

E-mail of 3 November 1998 from Professor Nesson to the Faculty in the Government Department

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To Colleagues in the Government Department of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences:

I write to you with the thought that you might be interested in the most recent events in the Tenure Review of Peter Berkowitz <http://cyber.harvard.edu/berkowitz>.

At the suggestion of Michael Roberts, then Secretary to the University, Havey Fineberg, Provost, and Anne Taylor, Vice President and General Counsel, Peter and I have chosen to follow, for the time being, the internal grievance procedure of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, notwithstanding the fact that the FAS procedure can hardly be expected to remedy a wrong committed by the Office of President and Provost. We will pursue those wrongs in appropriate fora.

The "Guidelines for the Resolution of Faculty Grievances" cover cases in which "proper procedures have not been followed in decisions regarding promotion or reappointment." We are looking to the FAS procedure to remedy wrongs in Peter's tenure review that were committed at the Department level.

The first step in the FAS procedure was to "take the matter to the appropriate department chair," in this case Professor Roderick MacFarquhar. To best follow the play, first read our letter to Rod, <http://cyber.harvard.edu/eon/evidence/rm1016pbcn.html> then his letter back to us.
<http://cyber.harvard.edu/eon/evidence/pbcn1021rm.html>.

The next step in the FAS procedure is to "consult" with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, who is Carol J. Thompson.

I would be delighted to meet and talk personally about any part of this. Please let me know.

Charles R. Nesson
Wm. F. Weld Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at HLS
http://cyber.harvard.edu