Professors Urge U. of Illinois to Clarify Rights of Adjuncts

A faculty panel has urged the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to more clearly spell out the due-process rights of adjunct faculty members in the wake of a controversy surrounding administrators’ treatment of an instructor of Roman Catholicism, the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday. A report issued last week by the university faculty’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure said the university did not violate any of its policies in seeking to dismiss the adjunct professor, Kenneth Howell, over comments he made about homosexuality. But, the report says, that was mainly because the university did not have any clear guidelines for handling such situations.