Faculty Status Council Review:
When the Tenure Review File has been closed, the Academic Vice President and Dean of the Faculty shall make it available to the members of the Faculty Status Council. Once the Council members have had an opportunity to review the file, the Council meets in private session. No persons other than Council members shall be present and no recording or transcript of the Council’s deliberations shall be made. Members of the Council are free to comment only on material in the Tenure Review File.
At the conclusion of these deliberations, each member of the Council (including the Academic Vice President and Dean of the Faculty) states his or her evaluation of the materials relative to the tenure criteria as described, ordered and published in the Faculty Manual, and concludes with a vote to recommend or not to recommend tenure. The voting body includes the Academic Vice President and Dean of the Faculty, for a total voting group of eight persons. A recommendation to recommend for tenure requires an affirmative vote from at least six of the voting group of eight. In addition, the entire Council provides to the President a formal, oral report of its reasoning about a case, with no further discussion to occur except questions of clarification about the oral report itself.
The recommendation of the Council shall be reduced to writing, signed by the Chair of the Faculty Status Council, and in the case of a positive recommendation, be forwarded to the President and the candidate by the Chair of the Council. A negative recommendation is at first forwarded only to the candidate to allow time for any potential requests for a letter of explanation from the Academic Vice President and Dean of the Faculty, for reconsideration by the Faculty Status Council, or appeal to the Faculty Appeals Committee. The negative recommendation goes to the President once any request for reconsideration or appeal is concluded. The recommendation report shall indicate that tenure is or is not recommended, and include vote count, but not indicate how individual Council members voted. In addition, the entire Council provides to the President a formal, oral report of its reasoning about a case, with no further discussion to occur except questions of clarification about the oral report itself.
In the event that the candidate disagrees with a negative recommendation of the Faculty Status Council, the candidate may proceed with a request for reconsideration to the Faculty Status Council or an appeal to the Faculty Appeals Committee based upon the Reconsideration Procedures or the Appeal Procedures contained in the Faculty Manual.