Tufts Grants Hearing; Sayre to Defend Case

The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of Tufts University voted yesterday to give Professor Woodrow Wilson Sayre the opportunity to state his case for tenure before the Trustees' Educational Policy Committee.

The date for the meeting will be set in the "near future," the Executive Committee said yesterday after their regular spring meeting.

Sayre had requested earlier this week that he be allowed to appear personally before the Executive Committee as the next step in his fight for tenure at the Medford campus.

The Advisory Committee on Faculty Personnel met Tuesday to discuss whether the 45-year old assistant professor of philosophy should be awarded tenure on the basis of his merit. Two weeks ago, the same committee upheld by a 4-1 vote the faculty position that Sayre does not have legal tenure. They based their decision on a sliding scale of tenure as outlined in the Faculty Handbook.

The committee emerged from a five-hour meeting without having reached a decision. Another meeting is slated for next week to continue the discussion.

Sayre maintains that he does have tenure according to the Trustees' By-laws, and has appealed his case to the American Association of University Professor.