Faculty wrangles with tenure appeals

Author: Scott Greene

The Middlebury College faculty met on Monday, March 13 in John M. McCardell, Jr., Bicentennial Hall to discuss a proposal regarding changes in tenure and reappointment appeals procedures, a new faculty-inclusive admissions strategy and current elections for the Educational Affairs Committee.

After those in attendance retroactively approved the Bachelor of Arts' degrees for recent February graduates, Associate Professor of Psychology Barbara Hofer presented the Faculty Council's proposed changes to the current appeals process. When members of the faculty become eligible for reappointment or tenure, the Reappointments Committee or Promotions Committee recommends a course of action to the president. The faculty candidate can then appeal an unfavorable ruling to the Appeal Committee.

The proposed changes aim to correct perceived ambiguity in the current language, because "the procedures in the handbook just weren't that clear," Hofer said.

Based on collected reports from administrators and faculty regarding the appeals process, the changes give more authority to the chair of the Appeal Committee to direct the process and decide when it has been completed. A second proposal ensures that members of the Reappointments Committee or the Promotions Committee, those who made the decision in question, receive copies of the Appeal Committee's findings in writing. Finally, the proposal allows for the Appeal Committee's report to serve as a reference for future Appeal Committees, and clarifies the Committee's ability to respond to "procedural errors that are immaterial to the outcome of the review."

The faculty will vote to approve the proposal during its April meeting, because procedure requires that anything of substantial language be proposed at one meeting and approved at another. When approved, Hofer believes the changes should help make the appeal process more straightforward and accessible.

"We do believe people have the right to an appeal," she said, "And we want them to understand that they do, and how they can do it."

Following the Faculty Council proposal, Dean of Admissions Robert Clagett spoke briefly about the Admissions Office's new strategy regarding prospective students. Under the new strategy, a faculty member will follow up with each admitted student by e-mail or a phonathon, an attempt by the Admissions Office to increase the faculty's involvement in the admissions' process.

"Here are some people we'd love to have come here and are interested in your field. Would you like to contact them?" Hofer said as she described the new strategy, which she said would include a "good number" of faculty members.

Moving on, Secretary of the College John Emerson updated the faculty on the elections to the Educational Affairs Committee. The elections, which began Tuesday, March 14 via e-mail, pertain to an unprecedented number of vacant positions, including all three members of next year's Promotion Committee.

Commenting on the time-frame for the elections, Emerson asserted that "we've been trying to follow the administrative and faculty rules meticulously."

The rules clearly stipulate that every opening be filled sequentially, so Emerson emphasized his efforts to move from one ballot to another as quickly as possible and ideally finish the elections by the end of the Spring Term. About 60 percent of the faculty votes in the annual elections.

In closing, College President Ronald D. Liebowitz addressed the faculty. He said the Prudential Committee of the Board of Trustees, at his asking, recently approved the College's new mission statement, attributing the accelerated acceptance to a desire to get the new statement into next year's College publication.

Finally, Liebowitz updated the faculty on the status of injured women's varsity alpine skier Kelly Brush '08. He said she had been moved to Colorado to undergo spinal treatment, adding that "the longer this ordeal goes on, the chances of recovery are slimmer."