A UBP Senator and Bermuda College professor is considering launching a human rights complaint against the college asserting that political interference and personal rivalry are keeping him out of the classroom.

Rev. Dr. Leonard Santucci told The Royal Gazette he has been involved in a dispute with the college since 1997 which, up until now, he has kept out of the public eye.

He feels a recent attempt to solve that dispute - by moving him to the teaching faculty - was unduly stymied and said he had no choice but to consult a lawyer, the Bermuda Public Servants Association (BPSA) and to submit information for review to the Human Rights Commission.

“I contend that this is an attempt to nullify my ability to accept my appointment to (the teaching faculty) at the school. It was offered to me as a resolution to a union grievance but subsequently it has become an issue because (the appointment) is a possible violation of the Faculty Association's collective agreement and it is currently under discussion between the union and the college administration,” Dr. Santucci said.

He told The Royal Gazette his dispute with the college stems from action taken four years ago by then vice president Dr. Donald Peters to force him out of the college where he has been employed since 1989.

He said Dr. Peters' motivation was based on personal dislike rather than performance issues but he was very close to a settlement with the college before the Faculty Association protested his appointment as a tenured professor on the grounds he has no formal lecturing experience.

Yesterday, Bermuda College president Dr. Michael Orenduff said, to his knowledge, the Faculty Association had taken no position on the issue and whether Dr. Santucci accepts the teaching post rests solely on whether he opts to move from his current position of Training Director at the school's Adult and Continuing Education Faculty to the lower-salaried professor position.

Dr. Orenduff said the college has a 12-level pay scale for professors based on teaching experience and other criteria and that Dr. Santucci was offered a salary at level five.

This salary would be lower than Dr. Santucci's current yearly salary but would be based on a nine-month contract rather than his current 12-month contract. On a month basis, it would be higher, Dr. Orenduff said.

And Dr. Orenduff told The Royal Gazette the proposed grievance settlement and teaching position are not in fact linked.

He said the college wanted to settle the long-standing grievance whether Dr. Santucci changes his role or not and that among the issues at stake in the grievance were that Dr. Santucci's pay had been frozen and that he wanted a information removed from his personnel file which he felt did not belong there.

“He can go to the faculty or stay where he is,” Dr. Orenduff said. “Regardless, the college is taking the steps necessary to resolve the outstanding dispute.”

On the other hand, Dr. Santucci told The Royal Gazette he believes there has been an attempt to block the resolution of his grievance for “personal, professional and political” reasons.

“Government objected to my Senate appointment and objected to me returning to my post at the college while serving in the Senate,” he said. The Royal Gazette understands an objection was made to Dr. Santucci's Senate appointment because he holds a post at the college which is a quasi-Government body but as there was no legal barrier to holding both posts, the matter was resolved and the appointment stood.

Dr. Santucci claims new hurdles to his union grievance settlement arose the day after he chastised the Government in the Senate during a fiery debate which turned nasty on the final sitting of the Upper House.