1974 The ISU administration fired Rufus Lyman, a tenured biology professor. Lyman filed suit
and was reinstated by a federal judge. The ACLU provided attorneys and the AFT paid all court
costs.
1975 The AFT launched a campaign for collective bargaining legislation and won a majority vote
(2-1 at UI) on the four campuses in support of such legislation. A higher education bargaining bill,
written and introduced by the AFT, lost on a tie vote in the Senate HEW Committee.
1976 Larry Quinn, LCSC history professor and local AFT vice-president, was denied tenure. The
Board of Education refused to hear an appeal, so Quinn filed suit, getting $2,5OO in legal aid from
the national AFT. In an out-of-court settlement, Quinn was reinstated at CSI with a $5,OOO
settlement.
1977 The UI Federation began work on an open files policy, which was finally passed by the UI faculty in 1980 and is now Board policy for all institutions. This policy prevents the establishment of secret personnel files and allows faculty members to remove adverse documents from their files.
1979 UI biology professor Homer Ferguson's rights were violated in a tenure review hearing. The
national AFT committed $12,000 to the case and Ferguson eventually won an out-of-court settlement
of an unspecified amount. This case proved crucial in ultimately mitigating the adverse effects of
tenure review policies.
1980 UI law professor Lee Eckhardt entered the Ferguson case, claiming that the five-year
competency reviews undermined tenure. The AFT and AAUP sponsored a statewide tour for
Eckhardt who spoke on "The End of Tenure." UI President Gibb unsuccessfully attempted to get
a court injunction to stop the tour, and the AFT charged Gibb with gross violation of Eckhardt's
academic freedom.
1980 After years of hard work by the AFT, the Ul faculty voted 99-51 in favor of giving full due
process to nontenured faculty. The Board continues to deny this faculty mandate even though
several of its past members admitted that refusing to give reasons is immoral.
1981 Tom Hale, ISU history professor and local AFT president, was fired by the ISU
administration. With $25,000 in legal aid from local, state, and national sources, Hale filed suit and
then won the largest first amendment settlement ($100,000) in Idaho legal history.
1981 The Board declared financial exigency in Ag Research and Extension and 17 faculty members,
11 of them tenured, appeared on a lay-off list. AFT officers interviewed nearly everyone on the list,
but only Lois Pace asked for legal aid.
1982 Extension professor Lois Pace filed suit against the State Board because of her dismissal under
the financial exigency of 1981. More than $40,000, 90 percent from AFT sources, was raised for
Pace's legal fees. In 1984 she won her case in district court.
1983 AFT initiated a revision of the UI faculty appeals procedures after protesting a series of
presidential vetoes of appeal board decisions. AFT action on this matter has virtually eliminated this
specific administrative abuse.
1983 Primarily as a result of the Ferguson case, the Board revised tenure review policies such that
the five-year tenure reviews are no longer automatic.
1985 After receiving almost monthly statewide complaints from ag faculty, officers of the UI
Federation agreed to hold a no-confidence vote for Dean Ray Miller. With 65 percent of the ag
faculty voting, 55 percent voted to remove Miller from office. Within a year Miller left the UI.
1986 The Idaho Supreme Court ruled there were other alternatives to laying off tenured professors
to alleviate the 1981 financial exigency. By the end of the year the Board settled with Lois Pace,
who received $40,000 cash, $45,540 in legal fees, and $2,000 a month for life.
1986-88 Settlements were negotiated in each of the seven other cases from the 1981 financial
exigency. The total amount (including Pace) came to over $1 million.
1989 The AFT actively promoted the candidacy of Elisabeth Zinser as Richard Gibb's successor.
Before assuming office, Zinser negotiated UI's removal from the AAUP censure list.
1990 Pat Lewis, an ISU nursing professor, requested legal aid for her grievance in the Department
of Nursing. She received $1,500 from the IFT Defense Fund.
1991 After a ten-year struggle Igor Mazur, a UI physics lab technician laid off during the financial
exigency of 1982, won a settlement from the Board of Regents. Mazur received legal aid from the
Lois Pace Defense Fund, the local, state, and national AFT.
1992 After years of AFT lobbying, President Zinser finally appointed David Walker as the UI's first
ombudsman.
1993-94 Even with the ombudsman in place faculty grievances handled by the UI Federation hit a
record during this academic year. The Federation's grievance committee handled six cases and
nearly $10,000 was disbursed from local and state legal aid funds.
1995 Since 1990 the UI Federation has published the salaries of the higher administration. It noted
that by 1995 administrative pay raises had outpaced the faculty by 4.84 percent. For the 1995-96
year the higher administration received an average 2 percent raise, while the faculty averaged over
5 percent. The AFT can certainty take some credit for the administration's attempt to close the gap.
1996 The UI Federation handled four grievances during the 1995-96 academic year, three involving
the denial of tenure. At press time one case has been resolved in favor of the faculty member--the
first reversal of tenure denial in AFT's twenty year effort to get due process for nontenured faculty.
1997 Norma Sadler, BSU education professor, won a pay equity suit with a settlement of $73,500.
The national AFT and IFT combined forces to grant her $15,000 in legal aid.
1998 After twenty years of struggle Richard Neher of the UI music department won a settlement
with the UI administration. Neher counted on AFT moral and financial support during this ordeal.
1999 An AFT attorney files suit against the UI administration on behalf of Beth Palmer, a former
faculty member in geology. The Palmer case epitomizes the "cold climate" for female faculty, as
documented by a study sponsored by Athena, a UI professional women's organization.