Faculty Rights Board FY2020


Committee Details:

Committee: Faculty Rights Board
Committee Category: Standing Committees of the Faculty Senate
Fiscal Year: 2020

Committee Description

The Faculty Rights Board shall have jurisdiction over any claim or charge by a member of the faculty that an administrative action; (i) violates the tenure rights of a tenured member of the faculty; (ii) constitutes a termination without proper cause of the services of a non‑tenured member of the faculty prior to the end of the term of the appointment; (iii) violates the established University procedures for the appointment, promotion, reappointment, or non-reappointment of a faculty member that prevented a fair consideration of the case; (iv) violates the academic freedom of a tenured or non‑tenured member of the faculty; (v) constitutes appeal under Article VI of the Faculty Senate Rules and Regulations from a negative promotion and/or tenure recommendation based on demonstrable application of improper standards or criteria; (vi) constitutes a censure, suspension or dismissal pursuant to Article VI of the Code of Faculty Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct without proper cause; or (vii) violates any faculty rights enumerated in Article III of the Code of Faculty Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct, which is not specifically referred to herein.  In its role as a hearing panel, all Committee members are expected to behave as objective arbiters of the evidence presented, neither advocating for nor against the individual bringing the case nor personally participating in the preparation and presentation of a particular case. Additionally, Committee members’ comments and questions are expected to focus on the substance of the case.

Procedures for hearings held and appeals heard by the Faculty Rights Board shall be developed, approved, and made publicly available according to applicable provisions of the Faculty Senate Rules and Regulations.

 

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: Chris Steadham, Law Library, (2020)
FacEx Rep: Sanjay Mishra, Business (2020)
Megan Greene, History, (2021)
Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, Mathematics (2020)
Berl Oakley, Molecular Biosciences, AAUP representative (2021) 

Charges

Approved by FacEx: June 7, 2019
Approved by Faculty Senate: September 12, 2019

For further information or to schedule a meeting with FacEx to discuss charges or the committee’s work, contact FacEx Chair Shawn Alexander.

  • 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 31, 2020 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 17, 2020.

FY2020 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).

FY2020 Specific charges:

  1. Review the revised Appeals From Administrative Actions received from FacEx, date TBD.   
  2. Review the revised Hearing Procedures for Cases of the Dismissal of Tenured Faculty received from FacEx, date TBD.

Meeting Minutes

n/a

Final Reports and Outcomes

n/a


Faculty Rights Board FY2020