Adopted at 1974 Midwinter Meeting

WHEREAS, on April 27, 1970, the University Librarian, by letter, offered to J. Michael McConnell the position of Head of the Cataloguing Division at the University of Minnesota's St. Paul Campus Library, and

WHEREAS, on May 7, 1970, McConnell, by letter, accepted the University Librarian's offer and terminated his then current position at Park College (Kansas City) in reliance on the contract, and

WHEREAS, on June 24, 1970, the University Attorney advised McConnell that the Board of Regents had voted to revoke his contract without stated reason, and

WHEREAS, on August 5, 1970, McConnell appeared in Federal District Court, represented by the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union, to contest the breach of contract and fundamental violation of constitutional due process, and

WHEREAS, on advice from his attorneys, McConnell waived for court purposes only, remedies to which he would have been entitled with regard to the University's breach of contract in order to press more strongly his rights for denial of constitutional due process, and

WHEREAS, on January 12, 1971, McConnell filed with ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) a request for action under the program of action in support of the Library Bill of Rights, and

WHEREAS, on June 25, 1971, the ¾«¶«´«Ã½Council adopted the program of Action for Mediation, Arbitration and Inquiry (PAMAI), to be supervised by the Staff Committee on Mediation, Arbitration and Inquiry (SCMAI), and

WHEREAS, the PAMAI contained the restriction that “no formal inquiry will be made into cases which are in litigation”-a statement demanded by Judith Krug, the OIF representative to SCMAI, and

WHEREAS, the jurisdiction for the McConnell request for action was thereafter conferred upon SCMAI, and

WHEREAS, SCMAI has made no formal inquiry into McConnell's request for action during the continuance of litigation which ended with a denial of review by the U.S. Supreme Court in October, 1972, and

WHEREAS, SCMAI has made no formal inquiry into McConnell's request for action since the conclusion of litigation, particularly with regard to the University of Minnesota's bad faith conduct, now

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that SCMAI's final published report (American Libraries, January 1974) in so far that it states that SCMAI “has been precluded from taking meaningful action toward mediation and arbitration of this case,” is not supported by said “report of facts,” and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the McConnell request for action be referred back to SCMAI for immediate formal inquiry into all issues that affect fundamental fairness in accordance with the principles of Intellectual Freedom.