STATEMENT 1:

The Tenure Subcommittee was asked by the Faculty Consultative Committee (FCC) whether the timelines for allegations of academic misconduct are appropriate. The question was prompted by what appeared to unreasonably long delays in completing various steps in one particular case.

The Tenure Subcommittee met with Professor George Sheets, Chair of the Senate Judicial Committee, to discuss the specific case and the guidelines generally. In the judgment of the Subcommittee, based on Professor Sheets’s comments, the timelines for investigations of academic misconduct appear to be acceptable.

In the specific case, the internal guidelines were followed, although there was a lot of back-and-forth about the statement of the case and jurisdiction. It may be that the University administration was too fastidious in seeking to identify rules that were broken, but no one was denied due process. We understand the administration was informed that it is inappropriate to use tactics that may stop an issue from being heard through the normal process.

STATEMENT 2:

The Tenure Subcommittee was asked by the Faculty Consultative Committee (FCC) to respond to a question about the standards that should be used by a department in making a decision about promoting an associate professor to full professor.

The Tenure Subcommittee believes that the standards and process used to make a decision about promotion to full professor should be consistent with the unit's statement required by Section 7.12 of the "Regulations Concerning Faculty Tenure."

The Subcommittee will recommend appropriate changes or clarifications to the Regulations Concerning Faculty Tenure or applicable administrative policy in the near future.