UI Provost Denies Destroying Records; College of Education Faculty Members Resign From Committee

University of Iowa officials say school officials did not destroy documents that criticized College of Education Dean Margaret Crocco.

The claims about the documents are just one piece of the issue in the college where faculty are concerned enough to take the drastic step of voting no confidence in Crocco.

An advisory faculty group today, the first day these issues which have been festering internally for some time became widely public, announced all members had resigned. The Des Moines Register reported the resignations in an exclusive story this afternoon.

Tom Moore, University of Iowa spokesman, refuted the claim that Provost Patrick Butler ordered the destruction of the documents. Moore said "the story is wrong" of articles in the Iowa City Press-Citizen and Des Moines Register, which reported that Butler demanded hard copies of critical comments left in an employee workplace survey be turned over to him and electronic versions be deleted.

Read Iowa City Patch's earlier coverage, which references the Register story: No Confidence Voted in University of Iowa Ed. Dean; Report: Faculty Told to Destroy Critical Documents

Moore said that Butler asked that the documents be given to him so he could put them in Crocco's personnel file to address during performance reviews. If any documents were destroyed it was not at the behest of the University, he said.

Moore also provided an email from Butler that provides the first glimpse of the school's perspective about the discontent in the College of Educaiton

“I have the documents. There is discontent in the College of Education about the changes and direction Dean Crocco is taking the college.  Changes that do away with business as usual always come with challenges.” stated Provost Barry Butler. 

“It is appropriate, for the faculty in the college to provide feedback about the Dean’s performance.  However, like any job evaluation in any business, it becomes part of that employee’s personnel file.  When I heard the feedback may be distributed, I collected copies and asked for confirmation that any other copies had been deleted.  Let me say again, I have the documents.  I collected them and they are in Margaret’s personnel file and will be discussed with her in her upcoming evaluation.” added Butler.

Moore also included explanatory correspondence to back up these claims in the email response. These emails have been attached as PDF files to this story.

While the University can deny the destruction of documents, it appears clear that the discontent reported to be brewing within the College of Education remains a real problem.

On the heels of this story and a vote of no confidence against against Crocco, the Des Moines Register is now reporting that all seven members of a Faculty Advisory Committee at the University of Iowa College of Education resigned this afternoon.

For her part, Dean Crocco did not comment on the situation when contacted by Iowa City Patch. Moore, however, said Crocco sent out an e-mail to staff on Monday saying that she would work with them to resolve whatever issues they might have. In this e-mail, Crocco extended an olive branch to education faculty "in the spirit of the holiday season."

Here is an excerpt from that e-mail:

I would like to reach out via this email to each of you to ask that you help me repair our relationship.  As I did at the outset of my time here, I am once again inviting anyone who wants to come in and talk with me one-on-one to do so at your convenience, now, if possible, or after the semester break. I promise to listen carefully to what you have to say. I cannot promise to agree with everything I hear or to do all that is asked. My responsibilities as a dean involve making an independent judgment on matters, but I will assuredly try to do a better job of letting you all know directly the reasons for my decisions.