Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A)
General
(1)
"Financial exigency" is defined as fiscal emergencies
that have two characteristics:
(a)
They are long
term in nature, promising to persist, by all reasonable projections, into the
foreseeable fixture, and
(b)
They thereby
threaten the fulfillment of the institution's academic mission and, eventually,
its very survival. As such, financial exigency is to be distinguished from
temporary fiscal fluctuations, on the one hand, and insolvency, on the
other.
(2)
Tenure termination due to financial exigency shall
occur only when an emergency cannot be alleviated by less drastic means (as
detailed below). By the same token, financial exigency must be severe enough to
justify, in principle, termination of some faculty across the university, not
just in selected departments. Similarly, financial exigency shall not be used
as a means of endangering academic freedom or discriminating against persons on
grounds of sex (including sexual harassment, sexual violence, sexual
misconduct, domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking), race, color,
religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender
identity, pregnancy, military status, veteran status, or political
orientation.
(B)
Tenure termination procedure
While it is recognized that the board of trustees has final
authority for the successful and continuous functioning of the university, in
the event of financial exigency involving termination of tenured appointments,
the following procedures shall be followed:
(1)
The president, after consulting with the fiscal
priorities and budget planning committee, shall inform members of the faculty
assembly, in writing, of the imminence or existence of a bona fide financial
exigency.
(2)
The elected
faculty members of the university senate shall constitute themselves as an ad
hoc committee, chaired by a member they elect, to evaluate the declaration of
financial exigency. This committee shall have access to all information it
deems necessary and appropriate to fulfill its charge, and it shall report its
findings, in writing, to members of the faculty assembly and to the
president.
(3)
The
aforementioned ad hoc committee shall establish a consultative committee on
financial exigency to recommend to the president a program appropriate for
meeting the crisis at hand. This committee shall consist of four full time
tenured faculty members elected by the electorate of the faculty assembly and
one academic administrator elected by the council of academic deans. The
committee shall also include, as full voting members the provost, as well as
chairs of the faculty welfare committee, the academic policy committee, the
fiscal priorities and budget planning committee, and the campus planning
committee. The committee shall elect its own chair.
(4)
Focusing upon the entire university, the consultative
committee on financial exigency shall recommend activities, offices, services,
functions, programs, departments, or divisions - academic as well as
nonacademic - that should be eliminated, contracted, or consolidated. In no
case, however, shall such elimination or modification be used in such a way as
to target an individual. Explicit criteria include but are not limited
to:
(a)
Need, in light of the
academic mission of the university at the time of financial
exigency:
(b)
Quality, as
determined by periodic reviews and evaluations:
(c)
Enrollment patterns:
(d)
Cost benefit relationships:
(e)
Number of persons served: and
(f)
Frequency with which a service is
rendered.
(5)
Prior to
consideration of termination of tenured appointments, the president, in
consultation with the consultative committee on financial exigency, shall
evaluate and implement all feasible alternatives and remedies to meet or
alleviate the crisis situation. These alternatives and remedies may
include:
(a)
Reducing or eliminating
of all activities expenditures not central to the academic mission of the
university:
(b)
Imposing a freeze on
all new appointments across the university:
(c)
Deferring across the board salary
increases:
(d)
Deferring
merit salary increases:
(e)
Proposing
across the board salary cuts:
(f)
Encouraging change of employment status from fulltime
to three quarters time to half time, with continuing fringe
benefits:
(g)
Encouraging
temporary leaves of absence without pay:
(h)
Reassigning
personnel within the university (note: In all cases of reassignment requiring
retraining or retooling, the university shall provide the affected persons with
financial assistance, time release, or both, as appropriate):
(i)
Providing incentives for early retirement:
and
(j)
Providing
incentives for voluntary resignations.
(6)
Should the foregoing alternatives prove insufficient,
the president, in consultation with the appropriate vice president(s). dean(s).
department chair(s). program director(s). and supervisory personnel, shall act
to determine specific persons whose appointments are to be terminated. Insofar
as it affects the faculty, any such action assumes prior consultation on the
part of the provost with the appropriate academic dean(s). on the part of the
appropriate dean(s) with the appropriate department chair(s). and on the part
of the appropriate chair(s) with the appropriate departmental tenure
committee(s). Explicit criteria for faculty evaluations include but are not
limited to:
(a)
Teaching
effectiveness, as reflected in student evaluation, peer evaluation, or other
appropriate means:
(b)
Distinction in
one's discipline, as reflected in peer review within and outside the
institution:
(c)
Special
skills requisite to the functioning of a program, department, or
division:
(d)
Service to the
university: and
(e)
Faculty status:
rank, seniority.
All such evaluations shall be
consistent with university policy on affirmative action and non discrimination.
Moreover, the welfare of the tenured faculty shall predominate throughout, and
only under extraordinary circumstances may nontenured appointments be given
preference over tenured ones. All such preferential appointments shall require
a three fourths majority vote of the tenure committee(s) of the appropriate
department(s). together with the approval of the appropriate department
chair(s). the appropriate academic dean(s). and the provost. Analogous criteria
shall govern the evaluation of non faculty unclassified administrative staff
and of classified employees. (It is recognized that classified employees have
their own layoff procedures. These procedures can be accelerated under
conditions of financial exigency.)
(7)
The president (or a designated agent) shall inform the
individuals whose appointments are to be terminated, by registered mail,
providing each with a statement of the criteria employed and the procedures by
which the decision was reached.
(C)
Right of
appeal
A tenured faculty member who has been notified of
termination of appointment due to financial exigency shall have the right to a
hearing before the committee on faculty rights and responsibilities. The appeal
shall be filed within thirty calendar days of the date of the president's
termination letter. The hearing shall be closed (unless the appellant requests
otherwise), and the faculty member shall have the right to counsel and to
presentation of witnesses and all other relevant evidence. The issues in this
hearing include:
(1)
The validity of
the criteria applied to the affected faculty member: and
(2)
The fairness and impartiality with which criteria were
applied.
The committee on faculty rights and
responsibilities shall maintain a summary record of the hearing and it shall
forward to the president a recommendation in writing, within sixty calendar
days of the president's termination letter.
(D)
Notice of
termination
In any case of tenure termination due to financial exigency,
the affected person shall be given a full academic year's notice, beyond the
current contract year.
(E)
Possible
reinstatement
For a period of three years following tenure termination due
to financial exigency, the person whose appointment was terminated shall be
given preference in filling any vacancy for which, in the judgment of peers, he
or she is qualified, and a reasonable time in which to accept or decline
it.
Replaces: 3339-9-05
