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The University of Texas at Austin will consider its Mission, Core Values and Code of Conduct policy when reviewing and responding to criminal violations by employees, President Gregory Fenves announced Thursday. That means the university may discipline employees for misconduct that directly impacts the campus and even that which doesn't. In January, Fenves charged a committee with reviewing the university’s related policies and procedures after it was revealed that the university investigated but did not ultimately discipline Richard A. Morrisett, a professor of pharmacy, in 2016 after he pleaded guilty to violently assaulting his girlfriend. The university's review "found no relation between how the professor acted in this situation and how he acted on campus, and as a result he was allowed to continue his teaching and lab activities," a Texas spokesman told the Austin American-Statesman at the time.
In addition to the new mission and values review, the university committee's report recommends highlighting an existing criminal record self-disclosure policy and making violations thereof subject to disciplinary action. “These proposed policies and updated procedures focus on disciplinary action related to conduct, not to speech or viewpoints,” Fenves said in his email. “They provide the university with clearer guidelines so that we may live up to the values” of the university. Morrisett did not report his multiple arrests to the university, according to the Statesman.
