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Motion 3 |
SUMMARY
Part 1 of this motion revises the
description and constitution of the Committee on Faculty Reappointments and
Tenure (CONFRAT), renaming the committee the Tenure, Promotions and
Appointments Committee. Part 2 authorizes the election of members for the newly
constituted committee, and authorizes the continuation of CONFRAT in its
present form until the end of the current academic year.
RATIONALE:
The revision and renaming of the Committee on Faculty Reappointments and Tenure, proposed by the Task Force on
Faculty Governance and recommended by the Faculty Executive Committee, changes
the membership, voting rights, and chair of the committee. It also adds to its
mandate responsibility for approval of each academic unit’s written criteria
for contract renewal, promotion, and tenure. This has been an FEC responsibility.
Since TPA uses these criteria in its evaluation of cases, assigning it to TPA
empowers the committee to ensure that uniformly high standards
are applied. Finally, the charge to TPA specifically requires that each
committee member, with the exception of the Dean of the Faculty and the Dean of
Biology and Medicine, recuse themselves from cases
involving faculty members in an academic unit in which they hold an
appointment. Aside from these changes, the charge to TPA is the same as that
given to CONFRAT.
The number of faculty members on TPA is
twelve, up from eight, and the committee chair is a faculty member. Currently the Dean of the
Faculty chairs CONFRAT. Under TPA each
member of the committee must be a full professor and "Committee members
shall be representative of the diversity of the Faculty." Currently, CONFRAT's rules state "There shall be at least two
women members and one member of an underrepresented minority on the Committee.
All faculty members of the Committee shall be tenured."
The primary reason for the increase in
faculty members is to allow for greater divisional representation and to ensure
that mandatory recusals do not lead to inadequate
divisional representation. The reasons
for restriction to full professors is three-fold: to bring the greatest level
of experience and broad (extra-discipline) academic judgment to the committee's
work, to eliminate conflict-of-interest problems (e.g., when a promotion case
for a committee member or former member comes before the same committee members
with which he/she has sat in that role), and to minimize mandatory recusals for promotions or appointment to full professor.
The four ex officio administrative
members of the committee who currently vote on CONFRAT would be non-voting
members of TPA. Today CONFRAT makes recommendations to the Provost; TPA would
continue to make recommendations to the Provost but would also make them to the
Dean of the Faculty and the Dean of Biology and Medicine, as appropriate, who
would then offer their own opinions on cases.
This Motion is presented to create the
Tenure, Promotions, and Appointments Committee and insert it in the proper
place in the Faculty Rules & Regulations.
MOTION
Part 1
Motion to amend the Faculty Rules,
effective July 1, 2003, for the purpose of revising and renaming the Committee
on Faculty Reappointments and Tenure, described in Part I, Section 2, VI, C of
the Faculty Rules and Regulations, with
the following description of the Tenure, Promotions, and Appointments
Committee:
C. Tenure, Promotions, and Appointments Committee (TPA)
1. Charge
a. The Committee shall review and, where appropriate, approve each academic unit’s written criteria for contract renewal, promotion, and tenure. These shall be submitted for review every five years by academic units and shall be kept on file with the Dean of the Faculty.
b. The Committee will review recommendations concerning (1) the renewal of appointments of Instructors, Assistant Professors and Senior Lecturers, (2) the promotion to the ranks of Senior Lecturer, Associate and full Professor, and (3) the awarding of tenure to untenured faculty members in light of each academic unit’s written criteria for contract renewal, promotion, and tenure. The Committee will review recommendations of appointments to tenured positions or to the rank of Senior Lecturer. The Committee will transmit such recommendations to the Dean of the Faculty or the Dean of Biology and Medicine, as appropriate, as well as the Provost. After receiving recommendations from the Committee and the appropriate Dean the Provost will submit his or her recommendation to the President and the Corporation for final action. This applies to all appointments and promotions noted above, except for non-tenurable positions within the School of Medicine, which are reviewed by the Committee on Medical Faculty Appointments.
c. In its review the Committee shall give due weight to the statements and evidence gathered by the academic units sponsoring the recommendation, including all evidence submitted by the individual under review. The Committee may solicit additional evidence from within or without the sponsoring group. The Committee’s review shall include consideration of procedures, of the evaluations of professional qualifications, and of institutional needs. The procedural review shall also determine whether the decision was consistent with (1) the written University Affirmative Action Plan, (2) the academic unit’s written criteria for contract renewal, promotion, and tenure on file with the Dean of the Faculty, and (3) procedural regulations of the University.
d. The Committee shall, in its advisory capacity, either endorse the recommendation or make a recommendation of its own.
e. Recommendations for appointments, reappointments, and promotion of faculty members other than specifically described above shall be reported to the Committee. The Committee may review any of these it feels requires such review. In all cases, when a review is requested, the Committee shall undertake such a review. A review may be requested by the candidate concerned, the Provost, the President, or the Chair of the academic unit.
f. The Committee shall report on its deliberations annually to the Faculty and to the Faculty Affairs Committee.
2. Membership
The Committee shall have as non-voting members the Dean of the
Faculty, the Dean of the
3. Method of Election
On about March 15, the Secretary of the Faculty shall send a mail ballot to all voting members of the Faculty.
a. The ballot shall be prepared by the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC) to ensure representation of the Humanities, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Life Sciences. Candidates will be grouped into as many categories as there are vacancies.
b. Faculty members shall be elected to serve staggered three-year terms.
c. Upon expiration of his or her term, a member shall not be eligible for reelection until one year has elapsed, except that persons elected for terms of one year or less may be candidates to succeed themselves.
d. The nominee within each category receiving a plurality will be elected. In the event of a tie vote, a runoff election by mail ballot will be held to determine the winner.
e. Chairs of academic departments and divisions, as well as programs and centers authorized to make faculty appointments, are not eligible for membership on the Committee. Members of the Faculty elected to the Committee may not concurrently serve as members of the Academic Priorities Committee, Faculty Affairs Committee, Faculty Executive Committee, or University Resources Committee.
4. Operation
a. The Committee shall act only through the Chair of the Committee or, in his or her absence, the Vice Chair or his or her representative.
b. Upon receipt of a recommendation, be it positive or negative, regarding the renewal of appointment, promotion, or the award of tenure, the Committee shall inform the faculty member concerned that such a recommendation is under review. At the conclusion of this review, the Committee shall notify the individual and Chair concerned of the outcome and, upon request, the rationale for its decision.
c. Prior to the conclusion of its review, the Committee shall, upon request, permit the faculty member under review an opportunity to appear before the Committee and/or present materials he or she deems significant to this review.
d. The Committee shall keep minutes and the outcome of every review shall be recorded with the names of the voters and their votes; the minutes will contain the reasons for the Committee’s decision. These minutes shall be confidential.
e. Members of the Committee, with the exception of the Dean of the Faculty and the Dean of Biology and Medicine, must recuse themselves from cases involving faculty members in an academic unit in which they hold an appointment.
f. The Chair of the Committee shall present a summary report of the Committee’s activities at the first meeting of the faculty each academic year.
g. The committee shall establish its own procedures, consonant with its charge and the applicable rules of the Corporation and the Faculty, and make a written statement of these procedures available to every faculty member.
h. If the Committee finds reason to question the recommendation of the academic unit, it will ask the academic unit to make further explanations. In such a case the Committee may ask the academic unit to reconsider its recommendation.
i. At the conclusion of the
Committee's discussion, a vote will be taken on whether the Committee accepts
the recommendation before it. The record of the vote, the Committee's
recommendation, and all other documents in the Committee's possession, shall be
supplied to the Provost and to the Dean of the Faculty or the Dean of Biology
and Medicine, as appropriate. The Chair of the Committee shall inform the
department chair about the substance of the Committee’s recommendation to the
Provost and the Dean soon after the Committee has made its decision. The
department chair shall communicate this information promptly to the candidate,
though underscoring for the candidate that it is still not necessarily the
University's final decision. The Dean will convey his or her recommendation to
the Provost. The Provost, thereafter,
shall declare his or her acceptance or rejection of the vote, and, in the case
of rejection, provide the Committee with a written response. The Provost will
recommend action for the approval of the President and Corporation, if such is
called for by the decision.
j. As soon as the Provost’s decision is made, the Provost will notify the academic unit Chair or Director of that decision and of the reasons for it. This oral notification will be followed by a written confirmation of the decision and the reasons from the Dean of the Faculty to the academic unit Chair or Director. It is expected that the Chair or Director will notify the candidate informally as soon as possible.
k. (i) If the departmental recommendation was for promotion and/or tenure and if, after review by the Committee, the Provost approved it, notice shall be given to the faculty member that, subject to the approval of the President and the Brown Corporation, the promotion and/or tenure has been awarded. (ii). If the departmental recommendation was for promotion and/or tenure and if, after review by the Committee, the Provost’s decision is negative, notice shall be given to the faculty member that the promotion has been denied and/or that tenure has not been awarded.
l. The President, or in the President’s absence, his or her designee, shall grant to an academic unit Chair or Director, or a faculty member under review, if he or she is dissatisfied with the Committee’s recommendation and/or the Provost’s decision, an opportunity to discuss the recommendation with the President, or his or her designee, in person, or to present materials in writing.
Part 2
Motion to authorize the revision of the Committee on Faculty Reappointments and Tenure to take place upon ratification of this motion; the changes in membership, name and committee composition to take effect on July 1, 2003; the Faculty Executive Committee to be authorized to conduct elections for the reconstituted committee according to the procedures outlined in Section 3 above in the Spring semester, 2002-2003; the Faculty Executive Committee to be charged with regulating the election of new members and terms of service to allow for the balance of committee composition and the staggering of terms of service prescribed in Sections 2 and 3 above.