OK, here's the story. Last week I received from the special Senate Conference Committee a new revised policy statement on Post-tenure review, and I would to thank Mike Russo, Laura Alpert, and Paul Engelking for their efforts and hard work in greatly improving the policy that has been under debate for so long. We owe them all a great debt.
As I looked over the document, however, there were some ways in which I felt the document could still be improved--by, for example, adding greater clarity concerning procedures, by reducing faculty labor in the process, and by explicitly linking our policy to the OARs and the IMDs that have been imposed upon us, and that we simply must accommodate in order to be in compliance.
As a result, I have taken it upon myself to revise the document (for what I hope will be the last time!), and it is this revised policy statement that appears below. I have tried to keep my revisions to an absolute minimum, but, you should know, there have been significant changes from the Conference Committee's document.
I know that many of you may believe that I have exceeded my authority by giving the document one last re-write (though I must say I was urged by members of the Senate Executive Committee to do just that months ago, and I resisted). But given the time pressures we are now under (we must submit a new policy to our accreditation board by April 16) I felt I had little choice.
The whole process has gotten cumbersome, and for that I apologize. But this is what I suggest should happen. I will ask Peter Gilkey, our Vice-President and Webmaster, to put BOTH the Conference Committee's document and my revised document (below) on the web, for the sake of comparison. At the meeting of April 14, I will ask Peter to withdraw his motion urging acceptance of the Senate Ad Hoc Committee's report of last December (remember that one? it's still technically on the floor, and its best elements remain embedded in the current document). And I will then ask for a motion approving the latest, revised policy (below).
The following document, then, is the one that I have placed upon the Senate Agenda for April 14. Please read it carefully, and I hope you will agree that it is clear, balanced, and fair.
Sincerely, Jeffrey M. Hurwit, President University Senate, 1998-99