THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE FACULTY SENATE Senate Document Number 1089S  Date of Senate Approval 1/26/89  Signature of Senate Chair _______________________ Date __________ Action of Vice Chancellor: Approval _______________________ Date ______________ Denied _______________________ Date ______________ Reasons for denial and suggested modifications: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Statement of Faculty Senate Action: FACULTY WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT DOCUMENT 2 CHANGES IN TENURE POLICES AND REGULATIONS The following changes are to the UNCA Tenure Document found on page A-15-1 to A-15-20 of the Faculty Handbook. Suggested additions are underlined and in bold type. Suggested deletions are enclosed in [] brackets and preceded by the word DELETE. Section III. ACADEMIC TENURE A. General Considerations. NO CHANGES B. Tenure, Notice, and Reappointment. 1. Tenure. NO CHANGES 2. Conferral of permanent tenure. Permanent tenure may be conferred only by action of the President and the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina or by such other Page 2 agencies of officers as may be delegated such authority by that Board. Because promotion to the rank of Associate Professor or Professor confers permanent tenure from the effective date thereof, any such promotion must be approved by the President and Board of Governors or upon their delegation as stated above. Any reappointment to the rank of Assistant Professor that confers permanent tenure also must be approved by the President and Board of Governors or upon their delegation as stated above. 3. Reappointment decisions. NO CHANGES. 4. Notice of nonreappointment. NO CHANGES. C. Faculty Ranks. NO CHANGES. D. Initiation, Review, and Approval of Promotion and Reappointment decisions. 1. Chairman's recommendation. NO CHANGES. 2. Vice Chancellor's favorable recommendation. After receiving the department chairman's recommendation the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs shall consult the Committee of the Tenured Faculty which consultation shall include review both of the chairman's recommendation and of institutional needs and resources. "A committee member who holds an appointment in the faculty member's department or has a conflict of interest shall withdraw from the deliberations and voting on that case after consultation with the committee chair and the chair of the Faculty Senate.". Except where the Vice Chancellor intends to decide that a faculty member shall not be reappointed, the Vice Chancellor then shall notify the faculty member and send his written recommendation, together with the chairman's recommendations and written statements of the views of the Committee of the Tenured Faculty, to the Chancellor. 3. Vice Chancellor's decision not to reappoint. NO CHANGES IN 3.a AND 3.b. c. The faculty member may seek review of the Vice Chancellor's decision before the Faculty Hearings Committee in accordance with Section III.J. herein if the faculty member alleges that the decision is based on a ground prohibited by Section III.J.1, or affected by the material procedural irregularities as defined by III.J.2. DELETE[Allegations that the established procedures were violated may be submitted to the Faculty Grievance Committee in accordance with Section VII.C. herein.] 4. Chancellor's decision. The Chancellor shall Page 3 make a decision on each favorable recommendation submitted by the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and on each appeal as provided in Sections III.J. DELETE[and VII.C. in each case] within 20 days of receipt of the recommendation or appeal. When the Chancellor makes a favorable decision, he shall forward it to the Board of Trustees for final approval (unless that Board has delegated approval authority to the Chancellor), provided that pursuant to Section III.B.2., in any case involving a recommendation for conferral of permanent tenure, if the Board of Trustees concurs with the Chancellor's recommendation he then shall forward that recommendation to the President and Board of Governors for approval. If the Chancellor's decision is unfavorable, he shall so notify the faculty member by a simple, unelaborated written statement, and within 10 days thereafter the faculty member may appeal to the Board of Trustees pursuant to Section 501C(4) of the Code. E. Resignations. NO CHANGES. F. Leave of Absence During Probationary Terms. NO CHANGES. G. Terms and Conditions of Appointment. NO CHANGES. H. Continued Availability of Special Funding. NO CHANGES. I. Provisions for Less Than Full-Time Employment. NO CHANGES. J. Nonreappointment of Faculty Members on Probationary Term Appointments 1. Permissable and Impermissible grounds for nonreappointment. NO CHANGES. 2. Request for review by the Faculty Committee on Hearings; scope of view. a. Within five days after receiving notice from the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of a decision of nonreappointment, the faculty member may request that the Faculty Committee on Hearings review that decision. This review is limited solely to determining whether the decision not to reappoint was based upon any of the grounds stated to be impermissible in Section III.J.1, or 2) affected by material procedural irregularities. Whether material procedural irregularities occurred shall be determined by reference to those procedures which were in effect when the initial decision not to reappoint was made and communicated. For purposes of Section J.2, "material procedural irregularities" means departures from prescribed procedures governing reappointment that cast reasonable doubt upon the validity of the original decision not to reappoint. b. The request for review shall be written and Page 4 addressed to the chairman of the Hearings Committee. It shall specify the grounds upon which the faculty member contends that the recommendation was impermissibly based or affected by material procedural irregularities, and be accompanied by a short, plain statement of facts that the faculty member believes support the contention. Such a request constitutes, on the faculty member's part, representation that he can prove his contention and agreement that the institution may offer in rebuttal of his contention any relevant data within its possession. 3. Initial disposition by Hearings Committee. a. The Hearings Committee shall grant a hearing if it decides that the request contends that the decision was impermissibly based, or affected by material procedural irregularities, DELETE[pursuant to paragraph 1,] and that the facts suggested, if established, will support that contention. The Hearings Committee shall inform the faculty member of whether it has granted a hearing within 10 days of receiving the faculty member's request. b. NO CHANGES. c. NO CHANGES. 4. Conduct of Hearing. The hearing shall be conducted informally and in private. Only the members of the Hearings Committee, the faculty member, the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs,5 and such witnesses as may be called may attend, except that the faculty member and the Vice Chancellor each may be accompanied by a person of their own choosing. A quorum for the hearing is a simple majority of the total committee membership. Committee members who hold an appointment in the faculty member's department or DELETE[or school who will testify as witnesses, or who have any other conflict of interest are disqualified.] who will testify as witnesses are disqualified. A committee member who has a conflict of interest shall withdraw from the hearing of that case after consultation with the committee chair and the chair of the Faculty Senate. If the faculty member requests it and the chairman of the Hearings Committee approves, a transcript of the proceedings shall be made and provided to the faculty member. The Committee may consider only the evidence offered that it considers fair and reliable. All witnesses may be questioned by the Committee members, the faculty member, the Vice Chancellor and the representatives of the faculty member and Vice Chancellor. Except as herein provided, the conduct of the hearing is under the Committee chairman's control. FOOTNOTE 5: 5And the department chairman, if the faculty member alleges that his or her recommendation was impermissibly based, or affected by material procedural irregularities. In such cases references herein to the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs include Page 5 reference to the department chairman. 5. Order of proof. a. The hearing shall begin with the faculty member's presentation of his or her contentions, which shall be limited to those grounds specified in the request for a hearing and supported by such proof as he or she desires to offer. When the faculty member has concluded this presentation, the Hearings Committee shall recess to consider whether the faculty member's contentions have been established pursuant to Section III.J.1. which justify proceeding with testimony from the Vice Chancellor. If it determines that such contentions have not been established, it shall so notify the parties to the hearing and terminate the proceedings; such action confirms the decision not to reappoint. The faculty member then may make written appeal to the Chancellor within five days, and the Chancellor shall decide the appeal on its merits as provided in paragraph 7. b. NO CHANGES. c. The burden DELETE[of proof during these proceedings] is on the faculty member to satisfy the Committee that his or her contentions are true. 6. Procedure after hearing. NO CHANGES. 7. Appeal to the Chancellor. NO CHANGES. Section IV. DUE PROCESS BEFORE DISCHARGE OR THE IMPOSITION OF SERIOUS SANCTIONS. Sections A-E: NO CHANGES F. The hearing shall be closed to the public unless the faculty member and the Hearings Committee agree that it may be open. A quorum for the hearing is a simple majority of the committee membership. Committee members are subject to the same eligibility restrictions as in Section J.4. The faculty member shall have the right to counsel, to present the testimony of witnesses and other evidence, to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses, and to examine all documents and other adverse demonstrative evidence. A written transcript of all proceedings shall be kept; upon request, a copy thereof shall be furnished to the faculty member at the institution's expense. Sections G-J: NO CHANGES. Section V. TERMINATION OF FACULTY EMPLOYMENT A. Reasons Justifying Termination and Consultation Required. NO CHANGES. Page 6 B. Termination procedure. Section 1-6: NO CHANGES. 7. Conduct of hearing. The hearing shall be conducted informally and shall be closed to the public. The faculty member and the Chancellor have the right to legal counsel, to present the testimony of witnesses and other evidence, to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses, and to examine all documents and other adverse demonstrative evidence. The faculty member and the committee shall be given access, upon request, to documents of The University of North Carolina at Asheville that were used in making the decision to terminate the faculty member after the decision was made that some faculty member's employment must be terminated. At the faculty member's request a transcript of the proceedings shall be given him at the institution's expense. The committee may consider only such evidence as is presented at the hearing and need consider only the evidence offered that it considers fair and reliable. All witnesses may be questioned by the committee members. Except as herein provided, the conduct of the hearing is under the committee chairman's control. A quorum for purposes of the hearing is a simple majority of the committee's total membership. No one shall serve on this hearing committee who holds appointment in the faculty member's department, DELETE[or school, who participated directly in the decision to terminate him, who will testify as a witness, or who has any other substantial conflict of interest.] who participated in the final recommendation to the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs or who will testify as a witness. A committee member who has a conflict of interest shall withdraw from the hearing of that case after consultation with the committee chair and the chair of Faculty Senate. _______________________________________________________________ Rationale: The changes suggested fall into three broad categories: 1. Changes which affect who will participate in decisions on hearings and tenure committees, 2. Changing appeal of non-reappointment decision based on procedural error from Grievance Committee to Hearings Committee, and 3. clarification of language. Each category will be addressed in turn. 1. Changes in D.2, J.4, IV.F and V.B.7 would require that members of the faculty member's department or faculty who are related to members of the faculty member's department must excuse themselves from the Tenure Committee or Hearings Committee for decisions involving the faculty member. "Related" is defined in A-25 as parent and child, brothers and sisters, grandparents and grandchild, aunt/uncle and niece/nephew, first cousins, step-child Page 7 and step-parent, step-brothers and step-sisters, husband and wife, parents-in-law and children-in-law, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, and guardian and ward. These changes were suggested to lessen the chance of any hint of impropriety in the proceedings. [NOTE: An amendment from the floor eliminated this clause and added another. See minutes for January 26, 1989.] 2. Changes in D.3.c, D.4, J.2.a, J.2.b, J.3.a, J.5.a footnote 5 establish that material procedural irregularities are grounds to appeal to the Hearings Committee the decision not to reappoint. In the past this has been heard by the Grievance Committee. This change was suggested because the Hearings Committee hears all other cases dealing with non-reappointment and such appeals are more closely related to the work done by Hearings. This change will, of course, necessitate changes in the Grievance Committee document which will be forthcoming. 3. Changes in B.2 and J.5.a and J.5.c are for clarification or to correct typographical errors. 4. Becomes effective at the beginning of the academic year after approval by the Board of Governors. Page 8