Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 28, 1993                   TAG: 9309280082
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

PRESIDENT'S AIDE GETS TENURE; RADFORD FACULTY UPSET

The faculty voted, 72-22, at a meeting Monday to form a committee to investigate the tenure granted to Charles A. Wood Jr., who has aided Dedmon for more than two decades.

"While Charles Wood has provided invaluable service over many years to the university and deserves recognition and reward for his devotion, the granting of tenure is a questionable means for providing such," said the motion drafted by Joseph Montuori, a psychology professor.

Tenure appointments, generally granted to professors and associate professors, essentially guarantee job security until retirement.

Montuori, tight-lipped about the motion after the meeting, said Wood's tenure did not meet the procedures outlined in the faculty handbook.

Wood could not be reached for comment.

The main complaint heard, before the motion was voted on by secret ballot, was that there wasn't enough faculty input about the decision.

The university handbook says various personnel, such as department committees and chairmen, the dean and the vice-president for academic affairs, should be involved in the decision, according to the resolution.

Other tenure guidelines they said Wood didn't meet include:

Administrators being granted tenure be required to teach one course each academic year.

Granting of tenure should be reserved for faculty members and administrative personnel "serving in the positions of president, vice president for academic affairs and college deans."

Other administrators can't acquire tenure "without relinquishing their administrative assignments and assuming full-time professorial duties."

A motion by Charles L. Hayes, associate professor of theatre, that Wood's name be removed from the motion and the faculty simply ask for an investigation of future tenure appointments was defeated on a voice vote.

One faculty member noted that the faculty motion might carry little weight because it simply will be a recommendation to the board of visitors.

"It seems to me that we may be swimming upstream," he said.

Tom Mullis, president of the faculty, said choosing the investigation committee wasn't a pleasant task.

"It's very depressing, to be perfectly frank," he said.