Committee to Issue Report on Tenure

UNC-Chapel Hill's Faculty Council is slated to discuss today an extensive overhaul of the University's mostly outdated policies for faculty tenure.

The Chancellor's Committee on Faculty Appointment, Promotion and Tenure will deliver its report, almost two years in the making, today to the council.

The report contains the committee's suggestions to update the policies and to make the process more equitable.

In large part, appointment, promotion and tenure policies have not been changed since the 1950s.

"It's the first thorough review ... we've had in a long time," said Sue Estroff, chairwoman of the council.

Estroff said the proposals are long overdue and present a more accurate reflection of the University's teaching climate. "I think it recognizes differences in practices and scholarship of the professoriate of today," she said.

The report looks at both tenured and nontenured faculty and at the flexibility faculty had for things like contracts and time off.

Existing procedures for tenure focus on policies that were developed in the 1950s, when male staff members traditionally were considered the sole breadwinners for families.

The report's suggestions would give time off to both male and female faculty, which will in essence "stop the tenure clock" to allow employees to care for children or aging parents without the penalty of heavier requirements for promotion.

"I think if implemented, (UNC-CH) will have success at recruiting a more diverse faculty," said Paul Farel, co-chairman of the task force.

Nontenured faculty positions are to be given due respect within the University as well, according to the report. Distinguished nontenured faculty have been noted in the report as deserving of "advanced titles" such as "senior lecturer."

Many of the changes for nontenured faculty incorporate similar systemwide recommendations made by the Office of the President's report to the UNC-system Board of Governors on nontenured faculty in 2001.

"We want to maintain the excellence of the faculty," said Barbara Harris, committee co-chairwoman.

With the report up for review by the Faculty Council, reactions from committee members might vary. But Farel said he thinks the recommendations will be well-received. "I think that the feedback will generally be positive," he said.

The full report going before the council can be accessed at http://www.unc.edu/faculty/faccoun/

reports/APTFinalReport.htm.

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.