Attachment to Resolution j:

Applicable Promotion and Tenure Documents.

To protect new faculty hires from changes in the “academic emphasis” in their department in the years subsequent to their hiring, Section 4.4.11 of the Faculty Handbook (“Changes in Departmental Priorities”) provides that candidates coming up for promotion and/or tenure during the probationary period (e.g., an assistant professor coming up for promotion to associate professor) may elect to be reviewed under the policy and procedure (University, college and department) in effect at the time of their hire rather than those in effect at the time their candidacy is declared. The purpose of this policy is to protect candidates against changes in departmental priorities that might adversely affect the candidate’s chance of receiving a favorable decision in the promotion and/or tenure. While not expressly stated, the implication of the language in the Faculty Handbook as well as past practice at the University is that after the probationary period, candidates for a subsequent promotion (e.g., from associate professor to full professor) are subject to the policy and procedure in effect at the time they declare their candidacy for such promotion. This interpretation, however, has been contested in at least one promotion case. Thus, language should be added to the Faculty Handbook to clarify that decisions with respect to candidates for a promotion subsequent to the promotion and/or tenure decision during the probationary period are governed by the policy and procedure in effect at the time such candidacy is declared. In other words, the right to be reviewed under the policy and procedure in effect at the time of hire does not apply for a promotion subsequent to the promotion and/or tenure decision during the probationary period.