UNDERLINING =CHANGES AFTER 11/19

DRAFT - NOVEMBER 2002

The University of Tennessee

 

POLICIES GOVERNING

ACADEMIC FREEDOM, RESPONSIBILITY, AND TENURE

 

Contents

 

Page                                                         Topic

 

    2................. Academic Freedom & Responsibility of the Faculty Member

    3................. Academic Freedom & Responsibility of The University Administration

    3................. Definition of Tenure

    3................. Eligibility for Tenure Consideration

    4................. Probationary Period

    5................. Criteria for Tenure

    6................. Procedures for Consideration & Grant of Tenure

    6................. Locus of Tenure

    7................. Evaluation of Tenured Faculty Members

   12................. Termination of Tenure

   14................. Disciplinary Sanctions Other than Termination for Adequate Cause

   15................. Appendix A--Procedures for Consideration & Grant of Tenure

   15....................... Tenured Faculty's Recommendation

   15....................... Department Head's Recommendation

   15....................... Dean's Recommendation

   16....................... Chief Academic Officer's Recommendation

   16....................... Chancellor's Recommendation

   16....................... President's Recommendation

   16....................... Action by the Board of Trustees

   17................. Appendix B--Termination Procedures for Category A Adequate

                        Cause: Unsatisfactory Performance in Teaching, Research, or Service

   17....................... Preliminary Steps

   18....................... Chancellor's Decision to Initiate Termination Proceedings

   18....................... Suspension With Pay or Reassignment Pending Completion of Termination

                              Proceedings

   18....................... Failure to Contest

   18....................... Hearing Under TUAPA

   19....................... Hearing Before a Tribunal

   21....................... Chancellor's Recommendation on Termination

   22....................... Review by the Board of Trustees

   23................. Appendix C--Termination Procedures for Category B Adequate

                        Cause: Misconduct

   23....................... Preliminary Steps

   23....................... Chancellor's Decision to Initiate Termination Proceedings

   24....................... Suspension or Reassignment Pending Completion of Termination Proceedings

   24....................... Failure to Contest

   24....................... Waiver of Hearing Under TUAPA

   25....................... Hearing Under TUAPA

   26....................... Expedited Procedure for Termination or Suspension Without Pay in Certain Cases of

                              Misconduct


                                                         The University of Tennessee

 

 

                                                            POLICIES GOVERNING

                                ACADEMIC FREEDOM, RESPONSIBILITY, AND TENURE[1]

 

                        Approved by the UT Board of Trustees at its meeting of 18 June 1998

 

 

 

The Board of Trustees is constituted by statute of the State of Tennessee as the governing body of The University of Tennessee, with complete and full authority over the organization and administration of The University[2] and its constituent parts and over the granting of tenure to members of the faculty.

 

The principal mission of The University is the discovery and dissemination of truth through teaching, research and service.[3] The Board recognizes that freedom of inquiry and expression is indispensable for this purpose and believes that it and the administration and faculty should cooperate to that end.  In The University's program of teaching, research and service, it is essential that the Board, administration and faculty cooperate voluntarily, each contributing freely, according to his or her qualifications, in a mutually beneficial exchange of information and ideas.

 

The following statement is intended to record the policy and procedures of The University with respect to academic freedom, responsibility, and tenure. The Board considers these principles compatible with its statutory authority and responsibilities and the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and inquiry to each citizen of the United States.

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Academic Freedom and Responsibility of the Faculty Member

 

A healthy tradition of academic freedom and tenure is essential to the proper functioning of a University.  At the same time, membership in a society of scholars enjoins upon a faculty member certain obligations to colleagues, to the University and to the State that guarantees academic freedom.

 

1.     The primary responsibility of a faculty member is to use the freedom of  his or her office in an honest, courageous, and persistent effort to search out and communicate the truth that lies in the area of his or her competence.

 

2.     A faculty member is entitled to full freedom in research and in publication of the results, subject to the adequate performance of his or her other academic duties, but research for pecuniary gain either within or beyond the scope of his or her employment must be based upon an understanding with The University administration, according to The University's policies (e.g., Compensated Outside Services, Conflict of Interest).

 

3.     A faculty member should maintain a high level of personal integrity and professional competence, as demonstrated in teaching, research, and service.  Academic freedom does not exempt a faculty member from an evaluation by colleagues and administration of his or her qualifications for continued membership in their society.

 

4.     A faculty member is entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing the subject, but the faculty member should use care in expressing personal views in the classroom and should be careful not to introduce controversial matters that have no relation to the subject taught, and especially matters in which he or she has no special competence or training and in which, therefore, the faculty member's views cannot claim the authority accorded his or her professional statements.

 

5.     A faculty member should recognize that the right of academic freedom is enjoyed by all members of the academic community.  He or she should be prepared at all times to support actively the right of the individual to freedom of research and communication as defined herein.

 

6.     In addition to the normal responsibilities of a citizen of the state and nation, including the duty to uphold their Constitutions and obey their laws, a faculty member also should conduct himself or herself professionally with colleagues.  He or she should strive to maintain the mutual respect and confidence of his or her colleagues.  He or she should endeavor to understand the customs, traditions, and usages of the academic community.


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7.     When, as a citizen, a faculty member speaks outside the classroom or writes for publication, he or she should be free, as a citizen, to express his or her opinions.  Each faculty member should conduct himself or herself professionally, should be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should make clear that he or she speaks for himself or herself and not for The University.

 

Academic Freedom and Responsibility of the University Administration

 

1.     The University is committed to recruiting, appointing, retaining and promoting faculty members by processes which are thorough, thoughtful, equitable, and in which the professional judgments of faculty members are of major importance.

 

2.     Administrative officers should actively foster within The University a climate favorable to freedom of teaching and research.  In its pursuit of excellence, The University should reward its outstanding faculty members.

 

3.     The administration is responsible for enforcing all Board and campus policies applicable to faculty members.  It is the duty of the administration--beginning with department Heads, Deans, and Chief Academic Officers--to remove from the faculty any faculty member who has been found, through proper procedures, seriously derelict in his or her responsibilities as a member of the academic community.

 

4.     The Board requires that each campus and its constituent academic units develop appropriate policies and procedures necessary to implement the Board's tenure policy.  These campus and academic unit documents must be approved by the Board of Trustees in time for campus policies and procedures to be effective on 1 July 1999.

 

Tenure

 

A.      Definition of Tenure

        

         Tenure is a principle that entitles a faculty member to continuation of his or her annual appointment until relinquishment or forfeiture of tenure or until termination of tenure for adequate cause, financial exigency, or academic program discontinuance. The burden of proof that tenure should be awarded rests with the faculty member. Tenure is acquired only by positive action of the Board of Trustees, and is awarded in a particular unit, department, school, college, or other department of a campus.  The award of tenure shifts the burden of proof concerning the faculty member's continuing appointment from the faculty member to The University.


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B.    Eligibility for Tenure Consideration

 

        Eligibility for tenure consideration shall be subject to the following minimum standards:

 

1.     Regular, full-time, tenure-track faculty appointments at the academic rank of instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, or professor are eligible for tenure;

 

2.     Temporary, term, and part-time appointments are not eligible for tenure;

 

        3.     Appointments funded in whole or in part by grants, contracts, or other funds available on a limited term basis ("soft money") are not eligible for tenure; [delete]

 

        4.     Faculty members pursuing degrees at the campus where they are appointed are not eligible for tenure. 

 

        3.     Untenured  faculty members may not pursue a degree at the campus

                        where they are appointed to a tenure-track position.

 

               Each campus may establish additional eligibility requirements for tenure consideration. For example, additional requirements might include completion of a terminal or other specified degree or a minimum rank of assistant professor. After approval by the Board of Trustees, campus eligibility requirements for tenure consideration shall be published in the campus Faculty Handbook.

 

               No faculty member shall be appointed initially with tenure except by positive action of the Board of Trustees upon the recommendation of the President and after review by the tenured faculty and department Head, Dean, Chief Academic Officer, and Chancellor.

 

C.    Probationary Period

 

        A tenure-track faculty member must serve a probationary period prior to being considered for tenure.

 

1.      Length of Probationary Period

 

   The probationary period at The University shall be no less than one and no more than seven academic years; however, for good cause, the President, upon the recommendation of the Chancellor, may approve a probationary period of less than one academic year.  If a faculty member has served in a tenure-track appointment at


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   another institution, his or her total probationary service may extend beyond seven years.  The original appointment letter shall state the length of the faculty member's

   probationary period and the academic year in which he or she must be considered for tenure if he or she has met the minimum eligibility requirements for consideration. The stipulation in the original appointment letter of the length of the probationary period and the year of mandatory tenure consideration does not guarantee retention until that time.

 

               For good cause related to procedural error, The University and a tenure-track faculty member may agree in writing to extend a seven-year probationary period for a maximum of two additional years.  The proposed extension must be approved in advance by the Chief Academic Officer, the Chancellor, the Senior Vice President (or designee), and the General Counsel (or designee).

 

        2.     Suspension of Probationary Period

 

               The Chief Academic Officer shall decide whether the probationary period will be suspended when the following circumstances occur:

 

               a.     the faculty member accepts a part-time faculty position;

 

               b.     the faculty member accepts an administrative position; or

 

               c.     the faculty member is granted a leave of absence.

 

               The Chief Academic Officer shall give the faculty member written notice of the decision concerning suspension of the probationary period.

 

        3.     Notice of Non-renewal

 

               Notice that a tenure-track faculty member's appointment will not be renewed for the next year shall be made in writing by the Chief Academic Officer, upon the recommendation of the department Head and Dean, according to the following schedule:

 

               a.     In the first year of the probationary period, not later than March 1 for an academic year appointment and no less than three months in advance for any other term of appointment;


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                       b.           In the second year of the probationary period, not later than December 15                                     for an academic year appointment and no less than six months in advance                                        for any other term of appointment; and

 

                       c.           In the third and subsequent years of the probationary period, not less than                                     twelve months in advance.

 

                     These notice requirements relate only to service in a probationary period with The University. Credit for prior service shall not be considered in determining the required notice. Notice of non-renewal shall be effective upon personal delivery or upon mailing, postage prepaid, to the faculty member's residential address of record at The University.

 

D.     Criteria for Tenure

 

         Tenure is awarded after a thorough review which culminates in The University acknowledging a reasonable presumption of the faculty member's professional excellence, and the likelihood  that excellence will contribute substantially over a considerable period of time to the mission and anticipated needs of the academic unit in which tenure is granted.  Professional excellence is reflected in the faculty member's teaching, research, and service including the faculty member's ability to interact appropriately with colleagues and students.  The relative weights of these factors will vary according to the fit between the faculty member and the mission of the academic unit in which he or she is appointed.

 

         Each campus may establish more-specific criteria for tenure.  After approval by the Board of Trustees, campus criteria shall be published in the campus Faculty Handbook.  Campus criteria for tenure shall include and be consistent with the criteria stated in this policy.

 

         An academic unit may also establish more-specific criteria for tenure in that unit.  After approval by the Dean and campus Chief Academic Officer, these criteria for tenure shall be published in the bylaws of the academic unit.  The tenure criteria for a department shall include and be consistent with the criteria stated in this policy and any criteria established by the department's college and campus.

 

E.      Procedures for Consideration and Grant of Tenure

 

         Each campus shall establish procedures for considering a faculty member for tenure. After approval by the Board of Trustees, these procedures shall be published in the campus Faculty Handbook. The procedures shall include and be consistent with the minimum components stated in Appendix A.


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F.      Locus of Tenure

 

         Tenure at The University of Tennessee is granted in a particular academic unit (e.g., department, school) of a specific campus in a position appropriate to the faculty member's qualifications. Reorganizations that result in the merger or splitting of departments do not affect the tenure or probationary status of the faculty involved.

 

         If a tenured faculty member voluntarily transfers from one UT campus to another, his or her tenured status is not transferred. However, a review by the responsible administrators in consultation with the tenured faculty of the receiving department may result in an immediate recommendation to the Board of Trustees that tenure at the new campus be granted to the transferred individual; on the other hand, a new probationary period in the receiving unit may be established. There shall be no involuntary transfer of faculty members between campuses.

 

         Transfers of tenure between departments on the same campus do not require Board approval, but must be approved by the responsible campus administrators in consultation with the tenured faculty of the receiving unit, with notice to the Board of Trustees. In any event, prior to the effective date of the transfer all conditions relating to tenure must be documented and accepted, in writing, by the transferring faculty member. If a non-tenured faculty member transfers from one existing department to another, a new probationary period must be established and documented under the same guidelines that would be followed if the faculty member came from another institution.  All conditions relating to the new probationary period must be documented and accepted, in writing, by the transferring faculty member.

 

         If a tenured faculty member accepts a part-time faculty position or an administrative position with The University, neither of which can carry tenure, the faculty member retains tenure in the full-time faculty position he or she vacated.

 

G.     Evaluation of Tenured Faculty Members

 

         Competent teaching is a crucial responsibility for faculty members, and the effective use of appropriate instructional evaluation (including departmental files of class syllabi and related materials, student evaluation, and peer evaluation) is important to all objective review processes.  Faculty members with research responsibilities should have the quantity and quality of their work fairly assessed.  Each faculty member's service contributions should be evaluated impartially.

 

 

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         1.     Annual Performance-and-Planning Review.  Each faculty member and his or her department Head will engage in a formal annual performance-and-planning review, examining the previous year's activities and planning what should occur during the coming year.  Each campus must seek to reward faculty members who maintain outstanding performance, and University-wide and campus administrators shall develop guidelines for each campus to allocate funds for this purpose whenever feasible.  Each faculty member's Annual Performance-and-Planning review should proceed from guidelines and criteria which are appropriate to the department, college, and campus.  A document summarizing the review--including an objective rating of the faculty member's performance (e.g., "Outstanding," "Satisfactory," or "Unsatisfactory")--must be signed by the faculty member (to acknowledge receipt of the review document) and the department Head; a copy must be sent to the Dean.  A faculty member whose performance is deemed to be unsatisfactory shall be ineligible for rewards (e.g., salary increments), and must provide to the department Head a written interim progress report of remedial steps taken on his or her performance in area(s) noted as unsatisfactory.  The Dean must notify the campus Chief Academic Officer of all faculty members whose performance is deemed unsatisfactory.

 

         2.     Cumulative Performance Review.  There shall be comprehensive, formal, cumulative, performance reviews of all tenured faculty members to promote faculty development and to ensure professional vitality.  Each campus shall establish policies and procedures which ensure that these reviews include peer evaluation and take place with sufficient frequency.  Additionally, a rigorous and thorough review shall be made of any faculty member whose performance is deemed to be unsatisfactory in two consecutive Annual Performance-and-Planning Reviews.  A Review Committee shall be convened by the department Head within thirty days of the second negative review, and shall be composed of the department Head, appropriate tenured departmental faculty members, and faculty and administrative staff from outside the department.   If a faculty member is evaluated by the Review Committee as unsatisfactory, the department Head, Dean, Chief Academic Officer, and Faculty Senate President or Faculty Senate Executive Committee shall reach consensus on one of two actions:

           

     a.     recommend that the Chancellor initiate proceedings to terminate the faculty member for adequate cause; or

 

                 b.     develop with the affected faculty member a written remediation plan (e.g., skill-development leave of absence, intensive mentoring, curtailment of  outside services, change in load/responsibilities) normally of up to one calendar year,


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                        and a means of their assessing its efficacy.  At the end of the remediation period, the Review Committee, Dean, Chief Academic Officer, and Faculty Senate

                        President or the Faculty Senate Executive Committee shall send a written report to the campus Chancellor, recommending:

 

                        (i)    that the faculty member's performance is no longer unsatisfactory; or

                                               

(ii)    that the Chancellor initiate proceedings to terminate the faculty member for

        adequate cause.

 

G.    Evaluation of Tenured Faculty Members

 

Competent teaching is a crucial responsibility for faculty members, and the effective use of appropriate instructional evaluation (including departmental files of class syllabi and related materials, student and peer evaluation, etc.) is important to all objective review processes.  Faculty members with research responsibilities should have the quantity and quality of their work fairly assessed.  Each faculty member's service contributions should be evaluated impartially.

 

1.     Annual Performance-and-Planning Review.  Each faculty member and his or her Department Head will engage in a formal annual performance-and-planning review, examining the previous year's activities and planning what should occur during the coming year.  Each campus shall strive to reward faculty members who maintain outstanding performance, and administrators shall develop guidelines for each campus to allocate funds for this purpose whenever feasible.  Each faculty member's annual review should proceed from guidelines and criteria which are appropriate to the department, college, and campus, and this annual review should be a key element involving merit pay or performance-based salary adjustments.  A document summarizing the review--including an objective rating of the faculty member's performance, below--must be signed by the faculty member (to acknowledge receipt of the review document) and the department Head; the Head must send a copy to the Dean and to the Chief Academic Officer.

 

           

   Performance ratings for annual reviews shall be as follows:

 

                        Outstanding for Rank

                        Exceeds Expectations for Rank

                        Meets Expectations for Rank

                        Needs improvement for Rank

                        Unsatisfactory for Rank

           


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