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NEWS
csceagle.com | The Eagle | APRIL 6, 2017
Robert F. McEwen v. The NSCS
A Timeline Two international students involuntarily transferred from ENG 135 to Dean Margetts verbally ENG 111 by former reprimands professor Robert McEwen McEwen
Oct. 27, 2015 VP Snare and Margetts deliver letter from President Rhine to McEwen outlining concerns raised in complaint and ordering him to leave campus
CASE CLOSED
Oct. 30, 2015 After meeting with McEwen, Snare, Margetts, and Assoc. VP of HR DeMersseman recommend he be fired
Nov. 10, 2015 Margetts notifies McEwen about recommendation to discharge
Nov. 10, 2015 After McEwen declines to resign, Nov. 13, 2015 Margetts submits recommendation McEwen requests hearing with adof dismissal visory committee to Rhine
March 4, 2016 Advisory committee unanimously recommends to Rhine that McEwen be fired
Early fall 2016 McEwen files lawsuit against NSCS
March 29, 2016 McEwen sends hearing request to NSCS
Source: Dawes County District Court Records
Students file complaint of “discrimination due to foreign status”
Nontraditional female student files complaint for discrimination “against her for age and gender”
Oct. 27, 2015 McEwen is instructed to attend Oct. 30 meeting with administrators
Nov. 10, 2015 McEwen and Prof. Hardy, his auditor, meet with Snare, Margetts
Nov. 10, 2015 Margetts offers to accept resignation, McEwen declines
Nov. 12, 2015 Rhine sends written recommendation of discharge to McEwen
Feb. 25-27, 2016 Hearing takes places, includes evidence and testimony
March 16, 2016 Rhine sends letter to McEwen notifying him he has been fired
April 18, 2016 NSCS Chancellor Carpenter sends letter to McEwen denying hearing before Board of Trustees
March 31, 2017 Dawes County District Court rules in favor of NSCS
Court rules in favor of CSC in professor’s wrongful termination lawsuit Preston Goehring Sports Editor The Dawes County District Court on Friday effectively ended a 17-month dispute between fired Chadron State College professor Robert McEwen and the college’s governing body, the Nebraska State College System. Finding in favor of the NSCS, the ruling states, “The Court finds that the Plaintiff’s (McEwen’s) Petition in Error should be and hereby is overruled. Any relief not specifically granted herein is denied.” McEwen declined to provide a reaction about the ruling before consulting his attorney. McEwen may appeal the ruling to the state Court of Appeals, and said that he “is still contemplating his options at this time.” McEwen, a former tenured, 28-year-veteran professor of English and Humanities at CSC, was fired in March 2016, court documents show.
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Those documents further show his termination was based on two separate discrimination complaints. The first was filed by two international students in spring 2015 who claimed “discrimination due to foreign status,” court records show. The second was filed in fall 2015 by a non-traditional, female student, who claimed “the plaintiff was discriminating against her for age and gender,” court records show. McEwen received a verbal reprimand after the first complaint; he was removed from campus after the second, court records show. On Nov. 13, 2015, McEwen requested a hearing before an advisory committee to review the termination process. That hearing took place over three days, Feb. 25-27, 2016. Six days later, on March 4, 2016, the advisory committee unanimously recommended to CSC President Randy Rhine that McEwen be fired. Wednesday afternoon, Rhine declined to comment on the Court’s ruling. In October 2016, McEwen filed a suit against the NSCS, claiming that proper procedures as
stated in Article 17.3 of the faculties’ State College Education Association collective bargaining agreement, were not followed. Article 17.3 of the CBA states: “Prior to giving a faculty member notice of a recommendation for dismissal, the Dean shall meet privately and discuss recommendation with the faculty member. The matter may be reconciled by mutual consent.” According to court documents, McEwen claimed that “private” meant that the meeting could only be between himself and Margetts. His interpretation of “private” was one reason for his suit, which specifically challenged “both the sufficiency of the process afforded him and the evidence offered against him,” court documents show. The NSCS denied that neither the process nor the evidence lacked sufficiency. Court records show that in addition to McEwen and School of Liberal Arts Dean James Margetts, CSC’s Vice President of Academic Affairs Charles Snare, and Physical and Life Sci-
ences Professor Joyce Hardy, who was serving as McEwen’s auditor, attended the meeting. Margetts declined to comment Wednesday afternoon, citing NSCS policies governing personnel matters. In a phone interview Wednesday morning, McEwen said Hardy did not attend the 17.3 meeting, that only he, Margetts and Snare attended. Wednesday afternoon, Hardy said that she “was at two meetings with McEwen and the administration,” but wasn’t present when the discussion of dismissal took place. “Neither of those meetings involved discussion of dismissal,” Hardy said. “So technically at the conversation that McEwen had with Dean Margetts that discussed the potential of Dr. McEwen being dismissed, I was not there.” However, according to the court records, because the meeting took place “behind closed doors,” because there was no record kept, and because neither Snare nor Hardy participated in the meeting, the Court found McEwen’s claim meritless.
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