The University of Idaho Faculty Senate discussed a proposal to change tenure and promotion policies for university faculty members during its meeting Tuesday.
Policy coordinator Elizabeth Brandt and vice-provost Torrey Lawrence gave an informational presentation to the Senate about the proposal.
Brandt said the goal of the meeting was to inform faculty about the potential change and to gather feedback about the proposal. No vote was taken on the proposal.
Changes will not be put into effect until spring of the 2019-2020 school year, if the proposal is passed by the Faculty Senate during the fall semester and approved at the fall University Faculty Meeting, Brandt said.
Lawrence said the proposal will be circulate over the summer to collect more feedback and discussion on the proposal will resume in the fall.
Brandt said the new policy does not change any criteria for tenure and promotion at UI. Rather, she said it simply streamlines the procedures of applying for either tenure or promotion.
The current proposal would override department and college bylaws to bring all university procedures involving promotion and tenure into alignment with the new rules. Brandt said the new proposal unifies procedures that were spread out in four or five different policies in the Faculty Staff Handbook as well as complicated by different bylaws in departments and colleges. These policies were sometimes inconsistent and required a quite some time and effort for faculty members to navigate, Brandt said.
“We just feel like it is really crucial for us to make something we can live with that is clear, orderly, simple and that we can follow without having a lot of ambiguities and mistakes being made,” Brandt said.
Sen. Penelope Morgan said she is glad the procedures are being made less ambiguous, but she is worried that problems could come from not allowing departments and colleges to have their own nuances in procedure. Lawrence said he sees the proposal as making the process easier for everyone if colleges and departments must align their bylaws with university policy.
Sen. Richard Seamon said an issue he has run into in the procedure that he would like to see addressed is there being no indication of what external documents are needed for the process. He said he thinks a new policy should be clearer about that. Brandt said that would be taken into consideration moving forward.
In-depth policy discussion was reserved for next year when the proposal is brought in front of the Senate for a vote. In the meantime, feedback will be considered, and the proposal will be further revised.
Gavin Green can be reached at [email protected]