At the invitation of the Brandon University Faculty Association, CAUT's Academic Freedom & Tenure Committee sent a two-person fact-finding team to the university in late January to investigate a charge of conflict of interest and other breaches of due process.

The visit of Professors Glenna Knutson (Lakehead) and Ian McKenna (Lethbridge) was prompted by allegations of the faculty association that faculty member James Kepron was unfairly denied tenure in the faculty of education.

The university tenure committee had received conflicting recommendations from the faculty of education tenure committee and the dean of education Ronald Common, and endorsed the positive recommendation of the faculty committee. Common objected and Brandon University president Dennis Anderson refused to grant tenure.

The CAUT investigators spent two days in discussions with many of the university faculty and administrators involved in various aspects of internal peer review and administrative processes that denied Kepron tenure, first in 1997, and again in 1998.

A member of the CAUT team also met with Jacob Janzen, chairman of Brandon's board of governors, to clarify the nature and purpose of CAUT's involvement.

Anderson registered his objection to the timing of CAUT's visit, particularly as the matter is before the Court of Queen's Bench. In 1998, the faculty association filed an application to quash a decision of the university's tenure appeals committee which upheld the president's decision to override the university tenure committee recommendation that Kepron be awarded tenure. The university has since filed a motion to have the faculty association's case thrown out.

After consulting legal counsel on Anderson's objections, CAUT's Academic Freedom & Tenure Committee gave the green light to the fact-finding mission. CAUT's concern is not with the legality of the decisions of the president and the tenure appeals committee but with whether the internal peer review and administrative processes determined the matter of Kepron's tenure in accordance with the standards of fairness and due process embodied in CAUT policies and generally accepted and applied in universities across Canada.

Before submitting its report, the CAUT team expects to return to Brandon for further discussions with faculty and administrators, including persons suggested by president Anderson.