A search committee for the position of Associate Dean of Residence and Campus Activities soon will be formed to advise Dean of Students Arthur C. Smith, Dean Smith said Tuesday.
Dean Smith said there would be undergraduate and graduate student representation on the search committee.
Associate Dean James R. Tewhey on Tuesday, April 20 informed his staff of his decision to resign from the position. Provost Associate Dean Robert Randolph was asked to take over Dean Tewhey's responsibilities for the immediate future, with Assistant Dean Andrew Eisenmann handling day to day activities in Residence and Campus Activities.
Mr. Tewhey, in a statement to MIT Tech Talk on Monday, said, "Due to the existence of a court order, I felt that my position at MIT was untenable. I felt concerned enough about my position there that I had gone to both Art and Joan to explore the possibility of leaving before any of this occurred, " he said, referring to the court action and to Dean Smith and Director of Personnel Joan Rice.
Provost Wrighton said, "The position of Associate Dean of Students for Residence and Campus Activities is constantly controversial because part of the duties involve initial decisions on student discipline cases and allegations about harassment situations.
"Given these responsibilities and the existence of the court order, Jim was in an untenable situation. He had been considering leaving since March and felt the time now had come to resign. I agreed with his assessment and accepted his resignation without any prejudgment on the harassment allegations involved in the court order."
The provost said, "I think it is important to clarify that there was only one formal complaint that was brought internally against Jim and that was found to be without merit." The provost noted that MIT policy requires that "disclosures of personal information will be made with the informed consent of the individual, " and that he made this clarification with the permission of Mr. Tewhey.
Dean Randolph said, "This is a difficult situation for all of us. Jim has made major contributions to the MIT community that have made this a better place."
Kenneth D. Campbell, Director of the News Office, declined further comment on personnel issues or on personal matters, noting that this was standard policy at MIT. It is inappropriate for MIT to comment on personal matters even though a court order on a personal matter is information available to the press and public, he said.
MIT privacy policies and personnel procedures place appropriate constraints on personal information being disclosed "within or outside MIT" by MIT employees, he said.
Two sections of the MIT privacy policy, 3.17 and 3.18, are printed in the accompanying article for the information of the community.
A version of this article appeared in the April 28, 1993 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 37, Number 30).
