By
Ryan Gabrielson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Different committee would review charges against fired researcher
Seven members of the UA's Faculty Senate have proposed that the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure preparing to hear the charges against Marguerite Kay step back and let the case be heard by another university committee.
"We should like to urge that CAFT cease and desist in its proceedings in the case of Marguerite Kay and refer any allegations of scientific misconduct against her to the University Committee on Ethics and Commitment for investigation," states a memorandum to CAFT from the senators.
The UCEC would not determine Kay's guilt or innocence, but would review the charges against her and decide if there is enough evidence to hold the third internal committee.
Expected to meet in January, the CAFT committee will be the third to hear the case against the former Alzheimer's researcher.
In July 1998, Kay was fired after being found guilty of scientific misconduct by a faculty committee. Last February, she was reinstated but barred from returning to the University of Arizona campus. The first two CAFT committees found Kay guilty of misconduct, but Pima County Superior Court Judge Stephen Villarreal ruled that she be reinstated, pending further actions by the university on the charges against Kay.
The third internal committee was supposed to begin its proceedings in September, but the attorney representing the UA requested that the date be moved back.
The Faculty Senate will hear and discuss the request and its ramifications Monday. Kay's firing and two internal committee reviews have been a sore spot for many of the senators who have said they feel that she is innocent of the charges against her.
"The substance of the charges is now questionable," said Peter Medine, a faculty senator and English professor.
Medine, one of the seven senators who proposed that CAFT not move forward with the Kay case, said that the peer review process Kay has faced has failed to sufficiently prove her guilt.
"The procedure has been faulted," he said.
While some members of the Faculty Senate are in favor of moving the case to the UCEC, Jerold Hogle, faculty chair and English professor, said that the senate should not be able to move where the case is heard.
"I'm against that (proposal), it over-steps," Hogle said.
Hogle added that last December, the Faculty Senate tabled a similar proposal on the grounds that the senate does not have jurisdiction to take such action.
Hogle, who has said he supports the findings of the first two CAFT committees concerning the charges against Kay, has removed himself from reviewing the proceedings of the third committee.
Kay will not be attending the Faculty Senate meeting. She has a serious back condition and has been advised by her doctors to avoid travel, said Carol Bernstein, president of the Arizona chapter of the America Association of University Professors and a microbiology and immunology research associate professor.
Kay is currently not living in Arizona, in an undisclosed location.
Medine said he is not sure whether the measure will actually come to a vote, but added that it could come down to how well informed the senators are on the Kay case.
"I would think the members of the Faculty Senate would be quite compelled (to approve the measure) once they understand the facts," he said.
