Advertisement

Review Board Reverses Committee on Novikoff

Finally, on June 12, the group presented a report to the full board of trustees. Five of the six men, with one trustee dissenting, recommended that the particular circumstances of the case warranted Novikoff's retention on the University faculty.

After several weeks of discussion, however, the board of trustees refused to accept the committee's recommendations and voted instead on the motion of Governor Emerson, head of the board, to suspend Novikoff without pay as of July-15, it before that time he failed to agree to answer any questions which the Jenner committee might put to him.

As the deadline approached, considerable controversy developed throughout the state as to the wisdom of the trustees' decision.

July 15 came and went without the required assurances from Novikoff, and on July 16 he was officially suspended.

from the University. After considerable pressure from American Association of University Professors, however, the trustees finally agreed to grant Novikoff a full hearing before a board of review consisting of 20 trustees and four faculty members in accordance with the usual rules of academic tenure in cases of alleged misconduct.

Advertisement

The review board met on August 29 for almost ten hours of hearings and deliberation. Novikoff himself testified, but refused to answer certain questions concerning his associations unless the board would agree to conditions which it could not accept. The board then voted 14-8 that Novikoff was guilty of "conduct which justifies his dismissal."

A week later, on September 5, the full board of trustees announced the Novikoff was to be dismissed at once from the University with a year's severance pay

Advertisement