| Handbook
Section F
PROCEDURE
FOR APPEAL AND REVIEW OF DECISION NOT TO RENEW CONTRACTS OR NOT
TO AWARD TENURE
1. Procedure for Teaching Faculty
A member of the teaching faculty has the right to appeal
a decision not to renew his or her contract or to award tenure. Faculty
have this right whether the President has accepted a consensus recommendation
from FAC and SFAC, has failed to accept such a recommendation, or
FAC and/or SFAC themselves have failed to reach a consensus in their
recommendations to the President.
It is in the interest both of teaching faculty and
the College and consistent with the traditions of Earlham and Quaker
values that the best possible persons be secured for initial appointment,
that there be provided means for regular evaluation, consultation,
and improvement, and that the decision-making process be fair, consistent
with Earlham’s stated policies and criteria, and be subject to
a process of review.
Consistent with this, the College has the responsibility
to make available to all teaching faculty at the time of appointment
this handbook, and to notify in writing the times of assessment and
decision for contract renewal or tenure. In cases of decisions not
to award contract renewal or tenure, the President or FAC will provide
reasons in writing. It must also be kept in mind, however, that a
faculty member’s teaching time before award of tenure is probationary,
that the institution must be accorded the widest latitude consistent
with academic freedom and standards of fairness in establishing criteria
and reaching a decision, and that in any appeal the burden of proof
rests with the faculty member. This is consistent with 1971 AAUP Statement
on Procedural Standards in the Renewal or Non-Renewal of Faculty Appointments.
(1) To appeal a decision not to renew or award
tenure a faculty member must indicate in writing to the President
that they wish to appeal within 30 calendar days from the beginning
of the semester (first class day) following notification of a
decision.
(2) Upon appeal, the President, the Clerk of the
Faculty, and the faculty member will select an Appeal Committee
consisting of three members of the teaching faculty acceptable
to all three parties.
(3) All relevant material will be submitted to
the Appeal Committee in writing. Such materials must be submitted
within 60 days of the beginning of the semester following notification
of a decision. The written materials will include at least the
following:
(a) A copy of the reasons for he negative decision
received by the faculty member and any supporting documents
the administration may choose to provide;
(b) An appeal document detailing the grounds
for an appeal and any supporting documents the faculty member
may wish to provide.
(4) The grounds for an appeal are that the process
of evaluation and/or decision making, as stated in the handbook,
was violated or that the faculty member’s academic freedom
has been violated (as defined by the appropriate AAUP statements).
The faculty member may not ground an appeal in disagreements
over the judgments of the FAC or President if those judgments
were themselves the product of correct procedure. The College
retains the right to make judgments about the quality of candidates’ performance
in accord with the process specified in the handbook; good performance
is not in itself a guarantee of renewal or tenure. If, however,
the faculty member believes that an incorrect judgment about
the quality or nature of their work has been arrived at because
of faults in process, she/he must show how flaws in the process
lead to such an improper judgment about performance.
(5) The Appeal Committee will review the decision
broadly for fairness of process and conformity with handbook
guidelines. The Appeal Committee is charged with determining
whether the faculty member should have his/her case reconsidered
and, if so, under what conditions. It is not the role of the
appeal committee to render an independent judgment on the merits
of any candidates’ qualifications for tenure or renewal.
The Appeal Committee must be given full access to all persons
and documents that will help it reach a sound conclusion, including
the faculty member’s appeal document, attachments (if any)
and the faculty member’s file, should the Appeal Committee
wish to see it.
(6) The Appeal Committee can recommend any of
the following:
(a) The appeal is not sustained and no further
College action is recommended;
(b) The decision-making process ought to be
repeated because of a violation of process or academic freedom
as specified in #4 above. In this case the Appeal Committee
may recommend that FAC reconsider the faculty member’s
case for tenure or renewal or they may recommend that an alternate
FAC be constituted to rehear the case.
The Appeal Committee may wish to trigger the
appointment of an alternate FAC if it believes the sitting
FAC has a conflict of interest or for some other reason is
unlikely to be able to revisit the case impartially.
In either case, the Appeal Committee should
specify to the FAC (either sitting or alternate) the ways in
which its new process should differ from its prior consideration
of the faculty member’s case.
The Appeal Committee will communicate its findings
to the faculty member and President in writing.
The FAC must reconsider the faculty member’s
file in conformity with the recommendations of the Appeal Committee
and produce a second recommendation and minute. Whether the
new recommendation or minute concurs or differs from the previous
recommendation and minute, it supersedes the previous recommendation
and becomes the recommendation that the President must use
in forming his/her recommendation to the Board.
(7) The alternate FAC, by design, is to consist
exclusively of members
who were not on the sitting FAC that heard the faculty member’s tenure
or renewal case. The alternate FAC will consist of a minimum of 3 and a maximum
of 5 of the most recent full term members of FAC. If there are not 3 full
term former members of FAC on campus and available to serve on the alternate
FAC, interim or replacement members of FAC will be asked to serve. Interim
or replacement members of FAC will be asked to serve by the Clerk of the
Faculty.
(8) The official record of the Appeal Committee
will be kept in the President’s Office files and will consist
of the following:
(a) All written materials received from the
administration, the faculty member, and other parties seen
to be appropriate by the Committee:
(b) A copy of the committee’s recommendation;
(c) A log of the Committee’s actions, including
times of meeting, documents received, and a record of parties
with whom the Committee or its members conversed.
2. Procedure for Appeal and Review of Decision Not
to Renew Contracts for Administrative Faculty
A member of the administrative faculty has the right
to appeal a decision not to renew his or her contract.
It is in the interest of both administrative faculty
and the College and consistent with the traditions of Earlham and
Quaker values that the best possible persons be secured for initial
appointment, that there be provided means for regular evaluation,
consultation, and improvement, and that the decision-making process
be fair, consistent with Earlham’s stated policies and criteria,
and be subject to a process of review.
Consistent with this, the College has the responsibility
to make available to all administrative faculty at the time of appointment
this handbook, and to notify them in writing about the times of assessment
and decision for contract renewal. In cases of decisions not to award
contract renewal, the supervisor will provide notice in writing to
the faculty member by March 31st.
(1) To appeal a decision not to renew, the faculty
member must indicate in
writing to the President that he or she wishes to appeal within 30 calendar
days of the notification of non-renewal.
(2) The grounds for an appeal are that the process
of evaluation and/or decision-making, as stated in the handbook,
was violated. The faculty member may not ground an appeal on
disagreements over the supervisor’s judgments if those judgments
were themselves the product of correct procedure. The College
retains the right to make judgments about the quality of a faculty
member’s performance in accord with the process specified
in the handbook; good performance is not in itself a guarantee
of renewal. If, however, the faculty member believes that an
incorrect judgment about the quality or nature of the faculty
member’s work has been arrived at because of faults in the
process, she/he must show how flaws in the process led to such
an improper judgment about performance.
(3) The President shall review the decision broadly
for fairness of process and conformity with handbook guidelines.
The President is charged with determining whether the faculty
member should have his/her case reconsidered and, if so, under
what conditions. The President will inform the faculty member
of his/her decision. An official record of the appeal and response
shall be kept in the President’s office.
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