108 Non-renewal of Non-tenured Faculty During Times of Financial Exigency

108.01 Criteria
The following criteria are to be used in determining the comparative value of non-tenured faculty to a department or area in order to determine which faculty members will not be rehired when faculty is to be reduced because of financial exigency. The first two are clearly interrelated and most important. The others are of lesser importance.

108.0101 Departmental (Area) Needs

108.0102 Teaching Effectiveness

108.0103 Service to the Department and University

108.0104 Professional Growth

108.0105 Academic Achievement

108.0106 Number of Academic Years of Service to the Institution

108.0107 Service to the Community

Definitions of criteria 2,3,4,5, and 6 are included in the promotions documents.

Each spring semester departmental needs are to be determined by the department chair in consultation with faculty members who shall assess the effectiveness and value of each program or course offering to the department and university. Each spring semester the supervisor of each of the "other" areas will consult with faculty members who shall assess the effectiveness and value of each function of the area to the area and university.

108.02 Procedures

108.0201 Each department or area shall decide in the spring of each year on the consultation procedure to be used in the event that it is necessary to reduce faculty for financial reasons.

108.0202 At the time that a department chair or supervisor is informed that a staff reduction for financial reasons is necessary, he or she shall institute the following procedures:

  1. The department chair or supervisor shall provide copies of each non-tenured faculty member's curriculum vita (defined in "Criteria for Promotion and Tenure" in this handbook) to the appropriate persons. He or she shall also provide those persons with a copy of the statement of the departmental assessment made in the preceding spring.
  2. The department chair or supervisor shall consult with members of the department or area (in the manner decided upon by the department or area) to evaluate each non-tenured member (except himself or herself) according to the criteria. The consultation shall culminate in written evaluations of each non-tenured faculty member. Each evaluation shall be signed or initialed by the department chair and the person making an individual evaluation or the persons making a collective evaluation.
  3. The department chair or supervisor shall prepare an abstract of the evaluations, noting both the strengths and weaknesses of each person evaluated and shall also prepare a ranking list of the non-tenured faculty of the department or area.
  4. The abstracts and the ranking list shall be forwarded to the dean of the college.
  5. The individual evaluations from which the abstracts were prepared shall not be destroyed until final action on the reduction of faculty has been effected.
108.0203 Persons whose contracts are not to be renewed because of action taken under these procedures shall be notified of such nonrenewal at least ninety (90) days before date of layoff or termination. A person wishing to submit an appeal or to institute a grievance procedure must do so within twenty days of notification of nonrenewal. If a person appeals and is rejected and wishes to institute a grievance, he or she must do so within five days of the rejections.

108.0204 When a faculty member teaches courses or serves in another department or area than that which is his or her primary responsibility or when he or she is on loan for less than a year to another department or area, he or she shall be evaluated according to these procedures by his or her home department. The department chair or supervisor, however, shall consult with the department chair or supervisor in the other area and include the latter's evaluation in his or her ranking.

108.0205 A faculty member who no longer performs his or her primary function in the department or area in which he or she holds rank shall not be evaluated by that department or area according to these procedures until after he or she has returned to that department or area and has served for an academic year.

108.03 Reappointment of Faculty Who Are Terminated For Financial Reasons

108.0301 The University shall maintain a list of all employees not re-appointed for financial reasons. They shall be listed by service area and function or by department and area of specialization.

108.0302 When positions are reinstated in an area or department for which non-renewed faculty members qualify, they shall be offered the position and given a reasonable time within which to accept or decline it.