Hearing on suspended University of Iowa professor delayed

UPDATE: An ethics hearing against a University of Iowa professor who has been on paid leave since January 2011 has been postponed until Friday.

The ethics hearing by the UI Faculty Judicial Commission was to start Thursday on the UI campus, with Dr. Malik Juweid participating via video conference. But one of the faculty panelists was out of town and unable to attend the hearing. It will resume at 8:30 a.m. Friday in the Boyd Law Building. The hearing was opened briefly Thursday to inform Juweid of the delay.

The hearing by the Faculty Judicial Commission is one of the final steps in an internal UI process regarding ethics charges against Juweid, who was placed on paid administrative leave in January 2011 for alleged “disruptive behaviors.” Juweid for a brief time was placed on unpaid medical leave, but he took that to court, and a judge ordered the UI to place him back on paid administrative leave.

The three-member faculty panel will hear testimony Friday from three witnesses, Investigating Officer Randall Ney said. Those witnesses are Lois Geist, an official in the Carver College of Medicine, and Peter Berkson and Jane Caton, who both work with the UI Threat Assessment Team.

Ney said it's unknown how long it will take for the panel to issue its findings to UI President Sally Mason, who will make the final determination on any resulting disciplinary action against Juweid. Ney said in recent years, he could remember one faculty hearing on ethics charges that resulted in the termination of a tenured professor.

“Many times matters will get resolved before you get to a hearing,” Ney said.

The three faculty members on the panel are Dan Anderson, a math professor; Stewart Ehly, a professor in the College of Education; and Wilf Nixon, a professor of civil and environmental engineering.

In addition to this internal UI process on the ethics charges, the tenured professor is suing the university and numerous UI officials in Johnson County District Court, claiming discrimination and retaliation by supervisors and colleagues. The UI denied the allegations and said Juweid sent dozens of harassing and unprofessional emails to colleagues.

Juweid recently

offered to submit his resignation as of December 2012, but he soon after rescinded that offer.