Faculty Rights, Privileges and Responsibilities FY2013


Committee Details:

Committee: Faculty Rights, Privileges, and Responsibilities
Committee Category: Standing Committees of the Faculty Senate
Fiscal Year: 2013

Committee Description

FRPR):This committee monitors the implementation of policies concerning faculty rights, privileges, and responsibilities, reviews and develops policy proposals on these issues, and communicates with faculty concerning their rights, privileges, and responsibilities.

Members

Faculty Rights, Privileges and Responsibilities (FRPR)

Membership: members of the Faculty serving staggered three year terms.

Chair: Jan Sheldon, Applied Behavioral Science, (2013)

Gerald Mikkelson, Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (reappointed) (2014)

Erin Ellis, Libraries, (2013)

Steve Ware, Law, (2013)

Holly Goerdel, Public Administration (2013)

Mario Medina, Civil/Environ/Arch Engineering (2015)

James Thorp, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (2015)

Kirk McClure, Urban Planning, (2015)

Charges

Approved by FacEx: 5/30/2012 & 9/4/12
Approved by Faculty Senate: 09/13/2012

  • Contact FacEx chair Andrew Torrance (torrance@ku.edu) for further information or to schedule a meeting with FacEx to discuss recommendations for action on the charges.
  • Minutes of each meeting should be e-mailed to the Governance Office (govern@ku.edu) as soon 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 03/26/13 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. Please include the names of committee members and submit the report by April 1, 2013. If the committee still expects to conduct business after April 1, please submit a report by April 1 and later submit any addenda that may be appropriate.

Standing charges:

As circumstances require:

  • Monitor the implementation of university policies related to the rights and responsibilities of the faculty, including the following general areas (1) appointments, promotions, granting of tenure, and non-reappointments; (2) merit evaluations, rewards and sabbatical leaves; (3) protection of the faculty’s right to privacy; and (4) intellectual property. Review all current policy statements regarding these matters to ensure that they are adequate, appropriate, and readily available to all faculty members. Report issues, problems, and recommendations to FacEx (ongoing).
  • Respond to inquiries and address issues regarding faculty rights, privileges, and responsibilities (as they arise).
  • Communicate with representatives of the AAUP regarding their concerns relating to faculty rights, privileges and responsibilities. Report issues, problems, and recommendations to FacEx (ongoing).

Specific charges:

  • Consider in depth the implications of a possible post-tenure review policy on the rights, responsibilities, and privileges of faculty members.
  • Facilitate communication among the FRB, SPPT, Faculty Compensation, and Research committees on their related charge, on which they will report to FRPR by 11/15/2012.
  • Synthesize the findings of the FRB, SPPT, Faculty Compensation, and Research committees on this charge.
  • Report to FacEx regularly and to the Faculty Senate, as requested, on this issue.
  • Discuss the possibility of including associate clinical professors at the Law School as Law members on the University Judicial Board. Report recommendation to FacEx by 11/27/2012.

Meeting Minutes

Please contact University Governance 864-5169, govern@ku.edu

Final Reports and Outcomes

FACULTY RIGHTS, PRIVILEGES AND RESPONSIBILITIES- (FRPR)
FINAL REPORT FY2013

 

The members addressed the second of the specific charges on October 17, 2012:

Discuss the possibility of including associate clinical professors at the Law School as Law members on the University Judicial Board.  Report recommendation to FacEx by 11/27/2012.

The committee discussed the charge at their October 17, 2012 meeting (see minutes for October 17, 2012).  The members proposed the following changes to the University Senate Code, Article XIII. Section 4: three members who shall be tenured faculty (including tenured clinical professors of   law and tenured clinical associate professors of law) who are graduates of accredited   law schools and currently admitted to the practice of law in any jurisdiction in the United States….

The University Senate Executive committee reviewed and revised on December 4, 2012.  The University Senate approved on March 7, 2013.

The members addressed the first charge of the specific charges on November 7, 2012:

Consider in depth the implications of a possible post-tenure review policy on the rights, responsibilities, and privileges of faculty members.

  1. Facilitate communication among the FRB, SPPT, Faculty Compensation, and Research committees on their related charge, on which they will report to FRPR by 11/15/2012.
  2. Synthesize the findings of the FRB, SPPT, Faculty Compensation, and Research committees on this charge.
  3. Report to FacEx regularly and to the Faculty Senate, as requested, on this issue.

The committee spent a great deal of time discussing the issue of post-tenure review.  They requested additional information:

  1. The committee members would like Molly Mulloy and Kathy Reed to ask the Faculty Rights Board (FRB) how many times in the last 10 years a tenured faculty member has been fired and appealed the dismissal to the FRB.
  2. The committee members would like Molly Mulloy and Kathy Reed to determine how many universities in AAU have post-tenure review.
  3. The committee members suggest that rather than the Provost choosing a committee to develop a post-tenure review, Faculty Senate should appoint a committee to develop this policy.
  4. The committee members suggest that any post-tenure review be conducted by a university committee in a time efficient manner by having each faculty member who is being reviewed (on a rotating basis of every 5-7 years) submit:
  1. The faculty member’s CV
  2. A table that summarizes teaching, research or professional performance, and service:
  • Course taught, credit hour production, and student ratings
  • Presentations, publications, performances, and grants
  • Service
  1. The committee members would like the Faculty Senate to consider sending a survey to all faculty members asking for their response to Chris Crandall’s proposal.
  2. Finally, the committee would like Faculty Senate to ask the Provost what his response is to the proposed Faculty Code of Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct

This information the committee received was also supplied to the Post Tenure Review Task Force that was formed in late March.

The Faculty Code of Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct was formally sent to the provost on September 5, 2012. As of April 9, 2013, the CODE is still pending. 

 


Faculty Rights, Privileges and Responsibilities FY2013