Cornwell v. University of Florida

307 So. 2d 203, 1975 Fla. App. LEXIS 14593
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 23, 1975
DocketT-81
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 307 So. 2d 203 (Cornwell v. University of Florida) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cornwell v. University of Florida, 307 So. 2d 203, 1975 Fla. App. LEXIS 14593 (Fla. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

307 So.2d 203 (1975)

George W. CORNWELL, Petitioner,
v.
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA et al., Respondents.

No. T-81.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

January 23, 1975.

*205 Michael L. Bryant, Gainesville, for petitioner.

Thomas S. Biggs, Jr., Gainesville, Herbert D. Sikes, Charles Miner, Jr., John D. Carlson, Tallahassee, and James S. Quincey, Clayton, Duncan, Johnston, Clayton, Quincey, Ireland & Felder, Gainesville, for respondents.

BOYER, Acting Chief Judge.

We here consider a Petition for Writ of Certiorari by which review is sought of various proceedings culminating in Petitioner being denied tenure at the University of Florida and his employment being terminated.

Petitioner was employed on a one-year contract as an associate professor at the University of Florida (University) in February of 1967. He was re-employed by successive one-year contracts until he was notified on or about January 13, 1972, by the Director of the School of Forest Resources and Conservation (SFRC) that he would not be recommended for tenure at the University and that his employment would terminate on June 30, 1973. Such notification followed a meeting of the tenured faculty of his department, pursuant to University regulations, at which meeting that faculty voted not to recommend that Petitioner be granted tenure.

Following various communications with the President of the University, Petitioner filed a petition with the University Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee (AFTC) alleging, among other things, suppression of his academic freedom and denial of his constitutional rights of freedom of speech. The petition further alleged denial of due process; an expectancy of continued employment; unconstitutionality of the criteria of the University determining eligibility for tenure; and denial of equal protection of the law because the University would not pay for Petitioner's private counsel fees.

Formal hearings before the hearing panel of AFTC were commenced on June 2, 1972 and were completed on December 17, 1972, during which time more than 175 hours of public adversary hearings were held. The AFTC found no suppression of Petitioner's academic freedom; no denial of his constitutional right of freedom of speech; denied his request for counsel fee for his private attorney; found no denial of due process; ruled that he did not have an expectancy of continued employment; and held that the criteria for determining eligibility for tenure were constitutional. It issued its findings and recommendations to the President of the University on January 30, 1973 and, at the request of the President, a supplement thereto on February 22, 1973.

The President, on behalf of the University, issued his decision on February 23, 1973, in which he accepted the factual findings of the committee, but declined to accept all of its recommendations.

After the decision of the President, Petitioner, by letter to the chairman of Respondent Board of Regents (Regents), sought review of the decision of the President. That request was referred to Chancellor Mautz. On March 16, 1973 the Chancellor responded to Petitioner's request by advising him that the rules and regulations of the Regents did not provide for it to hear the matter and that final administrative determination of the employment status of a non-tenured faculty member rested with the President of the University.

Petitioner then filed this Petition for Certiorari, joining as parties the University, AFTC, President of the University, John L. Gray as Director of SFRC, and Regents. Following a hearing before this Court on Motions to Dismiss, this Court entered an order dismissing all parties except *206 Respondent University and Respondent Regents.

Petitioner raises six distinct points for our consideration.

First, Petitioner urges that he had a property interest in re-employment and that he was deprived on termination[1] of employment of liberty and due process in administrative proceedings.

The AFTC rejected Petitioner's claim that he had a property interest in the form of an expectation of continued employment at the University, citing Perry v. Sinderman[2] and Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth[3], and further that Petitioner had failed to prove that he had an expectation of continued employment. Its report to the President stated:

"We ruled that under the doctrine of these cases Dr. George W. Cornwell simply had a probationary appointment * * *".

We find that the evidence before AFTC clearly supports its decision that Petitioner did not have a reasonable expectation of continued employment at the University at the time he was notified in January of 1972 that his contract would not be renewed after June 30, 1973. His own testimony on cross examination refutes any such expectancy. On November 2, 1971 he told the President of the Florida Chapter of the Wildlife Society in a letter that he intended to resign from the University of Florida during the 1971-1972 academic year "principally because I can no longer encourage students to enter this program". His testimony revealed that there were no false promises or pretenses which caused him to go to the University initially and that he did not go to the University with the expectation that he would be granted tenure. Although Petitioner had repeatedly been requested to develop a formal research program for the five years while at the University, he had not submitted a single project that met the qualifications of a formal research project. Dissension between Petitioner and other faculty members existed as early as June of 1970. He testified that he felt that the 16 month period which elapsed between the time of his initial notice and termination was "adequate time for a professional to relocate." In a conference with Director Gray in June of 1970, concerning tenure at the University, Petitioner was advised that the Director felt that if a vote was taken at that time it would be "close". As early as June of 1970 Petitioner was aware that the faculty felt his outside activities detracted from his performance as a University professor. Further, in June of 1970 Petitioner had a higher priority on developing a school of natural resources than developing the wildlife program, the job for which he had been employed. He became angry because the Director refused to admit two students to the school's graduate program and resigned from the Graduate Program Committee. In February of 1971 Petitioner requested permission to go on a halftime status in order to go into outside consulting work. In February of 1971 he further requested to be relieved of all research responsibilities in order that he might be relieved of the problems which existed concerning his failure to develop a formal research project. In March of the same year he applied for a job at Utah State University. In November of 1971 Petitioner told the Director and the faculty of his school that he intended to resign from the University of Florida.

In addition to the testimony of Petitioner himself, Professor Miller, a tenured faculty member, testified that he told Petitioner in 1970 that in his opinion Petitioner would not get a majority of the faculty *207 vote for tenure if the question were then presented. Dr. Swinford, another tenured faculty member and Assistant to the Director, testified to conflicts over what he termed irresponsible counseling procedures by Petitioner. Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
307 So. 2d 203, 1975 Fla. App. LEXIS 14593, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cornwell-v-university-of-florida-fladistctapp-1975.