Beken v. Eaglin

711 F. Supp. 860, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4256, 1989 WL 38270
CourtDistrict Court, D. South Carolina
DecidedApril 20, 1989
DocketNo. 4:89-0194-15
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 711 F. Supp. 860 (Beken v. Eaglin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beken v. Eaglin, 711 F. Supp. 860, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4256, 1989 WL 38270 (D.S.C. 1989).

Opinion

ORDER

HAMILTON, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction. Plaintiff, a nontenured, probationary faculty member at Coastal Carolina College of the University of South Carolina (USC-Coastal Carolina or College), is challenging the nonrenewal of his annual teaching contract. The defendants are Ronald Eaglin, Chancellor of USC-Coastal Carolina, and James H. Rex, Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs at USC-Coastal Carolina.1 In his complaint, plaintiff alleges under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 that his nonreappointment to the faculty of USC-Coastal Carolina resulted from his opposition to a core curriculum proposal of the College administration and his involvement with the USC-Coastal Carolina Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and that his nonreappointment denied him a constitutionally cognizable property interest without due process. In addition to his two federal claims, plaintiff alleges pendent [862]*862state law claims for breach of contract and misrepresentation.

Plaintiff thereafter filed a motion for preliminary injunction in which he seeks an order directing the defendants to extend his faculty appointment through the 1989-90 academic year. On March 23, 1989, the court heard testimony and considered affidavits offered by the parties in support of their respective positions. For the reasons that follow, the court has concluded that this action must be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The testimony and other evidence properly before the court reflect that plaintiff holds a probationary appointment as a full-time assistant professor of mathematics at USC-Coastal Carolina. He was hired on August 16, 1983. Under USC-Coastal Carolina’s policies, a full-time faculty member hired at the rank of assistant professor serves in a probationary status from year-to-year not to exceed seven (7) years. In other words, the maximum probationary period for a faculty member hired at USC-Coastal Carolina at the rank of assistant professor is seven (7) years. The relevant policy provides:2

[t]he maximum probationary period of full-time faculty hired at the rank of Assistant Professor or Assistant Librarian is seven years of continuous service with the college.
The Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs will notify, in writing, tenure eligible faculty members in their fifth year to prepare tenure application files. Files are traditionally submitted in the fall of the sixth year. A decision will be made by the Board of Trustees in the summer preceding the seventh year. If tenure is not awarded, the seventh year will be the final year of employment.

Faculty manual, p. 36, para. e. Termination of probationary faculty may occur [863]*863prior to consideration of tenure, however. The pertinent policy provides:

[i]f, during the first year of probationary appointment, it is deemed in the best interest of the College to terminate the appointment at the end of the first year, notice of such termination will be given by March 1 (July 1 for a second semester appointment).
If, during the second year of probationary appointment, it is deemed in the best interest of the College to terminate the appointment at the end of the second year, notice of such termination will be given in writing by December 15 (April 15 for a second semester appointment). Thereafter, notice in writing of the termination of any appointment to which the provisions of this section apply will be given at least twelve months prior to the date of termination.

Faculty manual, p. 36, para, j (emphasis added).3

In January 1988, Chancellor Eaglin met with Vice-Chancellor Rex to discuss whether any probationary faculty members should not be reappointed for the succeeding- academic year. Rex mentioned the names of five such faculty members, one of whom was the plaintiff. Eaglin asked Rex for a final list by April 1988. In April Rex presented Eaglin with his final recommendations concerning probationary faculty who should not be reappointed. Those were: David Majewski, Instructor of Theater and Speech; Barbara Driver, Assistant Professor of Business Administration; and plaintiff, an Assistant Professor of Mathematics. Eaglin accepted these recommendations and the affected faculty members were notified. In accordance with USC-Coastal Carolina’s requirement that probationary faculty members who have served more than two (2) years be given “at least twelve months [notice] prior to the date of termination,” Rex notified the plaintiff by letter dated May 12, 1988, that his appointment would not be renewed after May 15, 1989.

Plaintiff thereafter sought to grieve his nonreappointment in accordance with USC-Coastal Carolina’s grievance procedure. Rex, however, advised plaintiff that under USC-Coastal Carolina policies, nonreap-pointment of probationary faculty was not grievable. The College adhered to this position despite efforts by plaintiff to dissuade it from this view. When College officials would not yield to plaintiff’s view, he appealed to USC President Holderman, and, for the first time, asserted that he was challenging his nonreappointment as a violation of his rights of due process and academic freedom and asserted his belief that his nonreappointment was motivated by his membership in the local chapter of the AAUP and his failure to support Administration proposals for a “core curriculum” at USC-Coastal Carolina.

In a letter dated July 11, 1988, Dr. Hold-erman remanded plaintiff’s grievance to Chancellor Eaglin and directed that the grievance pertaining to plaintiff’s nonreap-pointment — including the allegations of denial of due process and academic freedom —be considered by the Coastal Carolina Faculty Grievance Committee. Thereafter, in a memorandum dated July 15, 1988, Chancellor Eaglin directed the USC-Coastal Carolina Faculty Grievance Committee to convene and consider plaintiff’s grievance and to make findings and recommendations concerning plaintiff’s allegations of impropriety.

The Coastal Carolina Faculty Grievance Committee devoted five (5) days to hearing from plaintiff and his witnesses, reviewing documentary materials submitted by plaintiff for its consideration, and hearing from, among others, Vice-Chancellor Rex and Dean Puskar, plaintiff’s dean. In a report dated July 26, 1988, addressed to Chancel[864]*864lor Eaglin, the Faculty Grievance Committee, by a vote of four to one, made the following findings and recommendations (emphasis added):

Finding. The committee finds no denial of Dr. Beken’s academic freedom and no evidence that his involvement in the Core Curriculum Committee and the American Association of University Professors was related to his nonreappointment. Regarding due process, the committee finds that the nonreappointment occurred within the strict bounds set forth in the USC-Coastal Carolina faculty manual. The committee does, however, have profound concern about the method of evaluation leading to the decision to nonreap-point. Neither Dr. Subhash Saxena (plaintiff’s chairman) nor Dr. Joe Cicero (his dean until 1987) were included in the deliberation; prior evaluations of Dr. Beken by Dr. Cicero were unavailable at the time; and Dean Puskar had no evaluative file whatsoever.

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Related

Willard v. City of Myrtle Beach, SC
728 F. Supp. 397 (D. South Carolina, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
711 F. Supp. 860, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4256, 1989 WL 38270, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beken-v-eaglin-scd-1989.