Faculty Rights Board FY2016


Committee Details:

Committee: Faculty Rights Board
Committee Category: Standing Committees of the Faculty Senate
Fiscal Year: 2016

Committee Description

Faculty Rights Board (FRB) This board is an adjudicatory body that hears disputes and makes recommendations concerning alleged violations of faculty rights, including academic freedom, tenure and related rights, and procedural safeguards in university processes.

The Faculty Rights Board shall be composed of five tenured members of the Faculty. One member with a Juris Doctorate degree, two members from the faculty at large, and a representative from the AAUP shall serve staggered three-year terms. A representative from the Faculty Executive Committee shall serve a one-year term. Members of the Faculty Rights Board are not eligible to hold consecutive three-year terms. Nominations for the AAUP seat on the committee will be sought from both the Executive Committee and at-large membership of the University of Kansas Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). In the event that an AAUP representative is not selected to fill a three-year term, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee shall appoint an additional member from the Faculty to a one-year term on the Faculty Rights Board, and nominations will be sought from the AAUP Executive Committee and at-large membership to fill that seat in the succeeding year.

Members

Chair: Jan Sheldon, Applied Behavior Sciences (Law member) (2018)

FacEx Rep: Pam Keller, Law (2016)

Paul Outka, English, (2017)

Steven Maynard-Moody, School of Public Affairs & Administration (2016)

Ron Barrett-Gonzales, Aerospace Engineering, AAUP representative (2016)

Charges

Approved by FacEx: June 2, 2015
Approved by Faculty Senate: September 10, 2015

  • For further information or to schedule a meeting with FacEx  to discuss charges or the committee’s work, contact FacEx Chair Tom Beisecker at south40@ku.edu.
  • Minutes of each meeting should be e-mailed to the Governance Office (govern@ku.edu) as they are approved.  The minutes will be posted to the Governance web site.
  • If the committee is recommending a change to university policy or rules, FacEx must officially receive that recommendation by March 22, 2016 in order to meet timeline requirements for full review by Governance.
  • Please send a report of the committee’s actions on each of the charges, as well as any recommendations the committee wishes to make concerning charges or membership for the following academic year, to University Governance, at govern@ku.edu, and submit the final report by April 15, 2016.

Standing charges:

  1. Hear promptly all concerns and claims brought to the attention of the committee by members of the faculty regarding faculty rights, including promotion, tenure, non-reappointment, and academic freedom, pursuant to Article XIII, Section 3 of the University Senate Code and Article VI of the FSRR.  Report issues or problems of concern to governance to FacEx, with due regard for the confidentiality of individual cases (ongoing).

Specific charges:

  1. Be prepared to revisit policies and procedures for faculty dismissal proceedings (formerly proposed FSRR 7.3.4) and related issues.  Make recommendations to FacEx.
  2. Be prepared to revisit the Faculty Code of Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct and related issues.
  3. Examine the appropriateness of Kansas District Court Judges ruling on cases of KU Personnel while on KU Payroll.  Report to FacEx and Faculty Senate with findings and recommendations by December 1, 2015.
  4. Examine policies related to long-term privately funded appointments of individuals who perform faculty-like functions.

Meeting Minutes

November 3, 2015 (PDF)

Final Reports and Outcomes

FY2016 Final Report (PDF)


Faculty Rights Board FY2016