Faculty Senate Minutes: Special Session
February 28, 2007
Officers attending: Nick Reeder, President; Jackie Myers, Vice President; James Brooks, Secretary
Senators attending: Jennifer Barr, Moez Ben-Azzouz, Mark Echtner, Luis Gonzalez, Eric Kraus, Cindy Schoonover
Senators not attending: Derek Allen, Mohamed Ali, James Houdeshell, Amanda Romero, Thomas Singer, Charles C. Williams
Others attending:
Nick called the special meeting to order at 3:04 pm in Rm. 7342.
1. Approval of Minutes
As a special session dedicated to a discussion of the Retrenchment Draft, minutes were not presented for approval.
I. 2. Retrenchment Draft
Nick proposed that the Retrenchment Draft be discussed paragraph by paragraph. Attendees agreed, and the discussion ensued. Minor changes to the wording and formatting on the first two pages were suggested, and revisions were made. An extended discussion about whether to define “academic freedom” in the document resulted in the suggestion that the AAUP definition of academic freedom be referenced. The complete text, with revisions included, of the first two pages of the Retrenchment Draft follow:
Faculty Retrenchment
Policy 2.9.8
1. Introduction
It is the policy of
Curtailment and/or
elimination of courses, programs, and faculty positions may be prompted by the
following circumstances:
1) as
a result of normal academic evolution related to expanding knowledge,
developing of new technology, changing student and community needs, or other
circumstances;
2) as
a consequence of a bona fide institutional financial exigency.
The Faculty Retrenchment
Policy will address each of the above scenarios.
The first, normal academic evolution, might be thought of as institutional
development. The goals of this
development stage are to promote faculty, staff, and organizational
transformation and to enhance institutional productivity. The objectives are to encourage educational
innovation and institutional growth as well as cost effectiveness and to
exercise quality control over the specialization and diversification of the
faculty, staff, and organizational resources of the institution. The faculty recognizes that legitimate
academic criteria for modifying or eliminating courses and programs are as
valid when budgets are ample as when budgets are tight.
Changing educational needs
require an academic response that may include the development of new courses
and programs as well as the modification or elimination of existing
curricula. Processes for this evolution,
whether it be called reorganization or realignment,
exist in the form of administrative and faculty committees. However, as an added safeguard, this
Retrenchment Policy will allow for the ultimate check and balance between
Faculty Senate and the Administration when the College is faced with
eliminating courses, programs, and personnel.
The second, institutional
retrenchment due to financial exigency, casts a far broader net and is a more
complex issue, and faculty understand that in this circumstance, the process of
faculty retrenchment would occur in the context of a college-wide
reduction-in-force effort. The two major
goals of institutional retrenchment are, first, to maintain institutional
integrity and, second, to protect administrative, faculty, and staff positions. The objectives are to ensure participation of
all parties affected relative to financial exigency and to ensure fairness and
equity in the decision-making process relative to curtailment of programs
and/or termination of personnel, whether staff, administrators, or faculty. Throughout, the requirements of collegial
decision-making and problem-solving should be regarded as opportunities for
dialogue and compromise between equal partners—faculty, staff, and
administration—in the governance process.
As a note of caution, the
declaration of financial exigency must affect the College as a whole and must
not be used as an excuse to terminate an individual, course, program,
department, or division, nor should it be used as a pretext for the wholesale
abrogation of tenure. While there is an
implicit obligation on the part of the College to demonstrate that termination
under these circumstances is bona fide, the effort to seek a way out of any
academic or financial quagmire must be a joint one combining the honest and
sincere efforts of both faculty and administration.
Further, the importance of
the principle of tenure to the excellence of the College must be
emphasized. For the College, tenure
entails careful evaluation and high standards of faculty; for the faculty,
tenure ensures academic freedom (see Faculty
Handbook Section 2.1.4) as well as the security necessary to attract the
best to the profession. The reallocation
of resources must not abrogate the principles of tenure or academic freedom
which are essential to the stability, integrity, and excellence of the College.
To
summarize, “retrenchment” or "reduction in force" is the process to
be applied when faculty positions must be eliminated. Natural attrition, voluntary
early retirement, and an early retirement incentive/buyout program are the
preferred methods for reducing the number of faculty. Where these methods are
not sufficient, retrenchment may become necessary. Any reduction in force requires good faith
action by the faculty, administration, and staff. This document describes
procedures to be followed when the elimination of faculty positions becomes
necessary for academic reasons or for financial reasons.
2.
Retrenchment for Academic Reasons: Conditions and Procedures
Conditions
Program
discontinuance or contraction for academic reasons may lead to termination of
faculty. Academic reasons include, but
are not limited to, significant changes in enrollment patterns and in academic
goals as established by the President and/or his/her designee. These changes shall not include cyclical or
temporary variations in enrollment but, rather, shall reflect long-range
judgments that the educational mission of the College as a whole will be
enhanced by the discontinuance or contraction.
Procedures
The development and implementation of procedures for effective and continuing evaluation of existing and proposed programs are the responsibility of the Senior Vice President/Provost and Operations Council.
3. Announcements
Next meeting: March 7, Rm. 7342, 2:30 pm.
The meeting adjourned at 4:00 pm.
Submitted by James Brooks
Approved by Senate: March 7, 2007