On March 3, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) sent "a letter of request" to Penn State regarding the decision to fire former Penn State Altoona tenured professor Nona Gerard.

Anita Levy, AAUP associate secretary, said the university has not yet responded to the letter.

"In general, the letter dealt with the manner of which Gerard's case was handled," Levy said.

"It included concerns about her removal during mid-semester and included ways to remedy the situation ... We were concerned in the way her dismissal was carried out."

Levy said the AAUP would help make sure Gerard received due process during her grievance period.

The letter, which was directed to the administration, asked them to respond to requests.

"We always want to work with the administration as much as possible to bring a mutual satisfactory solution for the faculty and administration," she said.

If Penn State does not respond in a month, Levy said the AAUP would consider sending an investigative committee to the university to inspect the issue. The committee would produce a report, ask the relevant parties for comment and then have members of the AAUP Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure discuss and vote on it for publication, she said.

If the university does not respond, censure of the administration is possible.

"Censure is our last resort," she said. "If we can possibly avoid it, we do."

Gerard was fired March 1 for grave misconduct after Penn State President Graham Spanier upheld the Standing Joint Committee on Tenure's report recommending her termination.

In August, Penn State Altoona Dean William Cale brought charges against Gerard for "failure to perform" and "grave misconduct" after she wrote e-mail messages criticizing the integrative arts program.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said he was unfamiliar with the letter.

"We certainly have privacy policies in terms of our employees and will not share personnel issues," he said.

At Tuesday's University Faculty Senate meeting, Spanier explained the procedure for Gerard's termination and called it "a very unfortunate situation." He said charges were brought after multiple efforts to reach a solution failed.

"It's one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make," he said. "We don't take something like this lightly. We only do it on most extreme cases."

Gerard disputed this yesterday, saying there was "never mediation in attempting to find a way to work through it."

Spanier said he supported the committee's recommendation but could not make any further comments.

Faculty Senate Chairman Christopher Bise said many faculty members asked him about the procedure to fire Gerard. "Faculty are obviously concerned when the university hasn't made a statement, and the other party is releasing things," he said. "President Spanier did a good job explaining the procedure."