Faculty members voted to approve tenure-related revisions to the Faculty Rules and Regulations at the faculty meeting yesterday. They also approved a proposal to create a master's program in clinical and translational research, as well as a motion to establish a formal literary arts department. Both motions will go before the Corporation's Board of Fellows at the next Corporation meeting in May.
The tenure revisions were grouped in three separate motions, with the first two pertaining to changes to the Faculty Rules and Regulations approved at the December faculty meeting. The third motion introduced the final set of revisions to the tenure process, concluding a series of amendments that began last spring.
The first motion, which passed 88 to 10 with two abstaining, changed language in the Faculty Rules and Regulations based on the motions passed in December. While the faculty had approved the changes in spirit, they had not yet approved the actual wording of the rules until yesterday.
The second motion, which passed 112 to nine with two abstaining, encompassed changes that had not been discussed in December but were "consistent" with what faculty members had approved, said Cynthia Garcia Coll, professor of education and chair of the Faculty Executive Committee.
The motion said junior faculty members denied tenure after opting for early review would have their contract expiration dates adjusted to provide them just one further year of employment. Candidates denied tenure would also no longer be told who voted for or against them, and tenured faculty not on campus would be able to request access to documents pertaining to ongoing tenure cases. The motion also edited "redundant" language in the Rules and Regulations, according to the rationale enclosed with the meeting's agenda.
One faculty member expressed concern that tenured faculty who are off campus may not know about ongoing tenure cases and would not know to request access to case-related documents. Consequently, the faculty struck "upon request" from the motion, so that such documents will automatically be made available to all off-campus tenured faculty.
The final tenure-related motion, which passed 102 to six with three abstaining, adjusted the timeline for annual junior faculty reviews and changed the schedule for both revealing tenure candidates' decisions and also when junior faculty will be notified of contract renewal.
Untenured faculty will now be formally reviewed at the start of their second year, rather than in the middle of their first year of teaching. But departments will also give junior faculty members an "informal review" before the summer so they can incorporate feedback into their teaching styles, said Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98. The University will also have to notify junior faculty members if their contracts will be renewed eight months before four-year contracts expire, and it will have to tell tenure candidates of its decision at least one year before their contracts expire.
The motion also recommended that departments submit their formal reviews of junior faculty to the dean of the faculty, who can then suggest revisions to the letter.
"Departments may not have experience" in writing these letters, Kertzer said, adding that he has often seen language in such letters that "should not be there."
Brian Evenson, director of the literary arts program, spoke regarding the motion to establish a literary arts department, saying that the program already operates like any other academic department.
"It's just acknowledging a change that has already taken place," Evenson said.
The motion to establish the department passed 103 to six with three abstaining. The vote to approve the master's degree in clinical and translational research passed unanimously.
Faculty members also observed memorial minutes for Thomas Lasater, professor of community health, and Jan Tauc, professor emeritus of engineering and physics. Lasater died Nov. 22 of colon cancer, while Tauc died of heart failure Dec. 28.
