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Policies and Procedures

This is not a comprehensive listing of all policies at UMass Dartmouth, but a selected listing.

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Election of Department Chairs

The term of office for Department Chairpersons and Division Heads shall be four (4) years.

1. Department Chairpersons will be selected as follows:

a. "On or before April 15 of the last year of the present Chairperson's term of office, the College Dean shall call for a secret ballot vote of the members of the department to nominate a tenured faculty member of the department for Department Chairperson. The election shall be conducted by the appropriate College Academic Council. The candidate receiving a majority of votes cast will be the nominee. The Chairperson of the College Academic Council will submit this name to the College Dean. In the event of a tie, a new secret balloting shall be conducted within one week of the previous balloting. The term of office shall commence on July 1.

b. Tenured faculty shall be eligible for office and, in cases of small departments (four or fewer tenure-track faculty), non-tenured faculty shall be eligible to serve.

c. All faculty members as defined in the definitions clause and professional technicians shall be eligible to vote in the election for Department Chairperson.

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Sexual Harassment

SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICY

Sexual harassment is sex discrimination and, therefore, a violation of federal and state law. It is the policy of the University of Massachusetts that no member of the University community may sexually harass another. For purposes of this policy and consistent with federal regulations, sexual harassment is defined as follows:

Unwelcomed sexual advances, requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when: 1) submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual's employment or academic work, 2) submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment or academic decisions affecting such individual or 3) such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working or academic environment.

It is the policy of the University of Massachusetts to protect the rights of all persons within the University community by providing fair and impartial investigations of all complaints brought to the attention of appropriate officials. Any member of the University community found to have violated this sexual harassment policy will be subject to disciplinary action.

Chancellors are directed to take appropriate measures to inform each member of the University community of this policy statement and to develop procedures, in conjunction with the President's Office, for filing, hearing and resolving complaints

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Violence in the Workplace

Violence in the workplace can be defined as the acts of threats or violence that arise out of either disputes or antagonistic interpersonal relationships between employees, visitors, customers, and/or their employees in and around the place of employment. Workplace violence can be categorized into three areas: stranger violence, client violence, and employee violence. Personal harassment (including stalking), abusive behavior, and violence are not tolerated in the workplace. Call Public Safety with any questions or concerns at ext. 8107.

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