CAUT has named a three-member committee to look into a number of serious allegations made by clinical faculty at the University of Alberta.

Academic staff in the university’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry have raised concerns in the past months over questionable practices relating to administrative appointments, the introduction of a new evaluation process, and a general climate of uncertainty, mistrust and fear.

The investigation committee will review these claims as well as allegations the administration is trying to change agreements made with clinical faculty when they were hired into tenure-track positions.

CAUT executive director James Turk called the allegations “very serious and unusual,” adding that the concerns open up a number of issues.

“The committee will undertake a full and impartial examination of the situation and, if it confirms problems, will make recommendations for resolving them,” he said.

The members of the ad hoc investigatory committee are Dr. Keith Brownell, professor of clinical neuroscience at the University of Calgary, Dr. Myron Frankman, a retired McGill University economics professor, and Dr. Robin Whyte, professor of pediatrics at Dalhousie University.

The committee will visit the University of Alberta campus on Feb. 14­–15 and March 14–15 to meet with faculty, staff and administrators.