Accreditation Recommendation

In June of 1997, the University of Oregon received the report from the Accreditation Team of the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges and Commission on Colleges which culminated a year-long review process.  The policy of the Commission is not to grant accreditation for a definite number of years.  Instead, accreditation must be reaffirmed periodically.  Each institution needs to conduct a self-study and be visited by a full evaluation committee at least once every ten years, and during the fifth year, the institution submits an interim report and is visited by at least one Commission representative.

In the case of the University of Oregon, the Commission requested a progress report in spring of 1999 that is to address General Recommendations 1 and 2 of the 1997 Evaluation Committee Report (pages 57-58).  The specific recommendation involving post-tenure review is as follows:
 

1. "The committee recommends that institutional administrators take immediate action to ensure campus-wide compliance with the requirements of Standard VII and Commission Policy 26 for the continuing review of faculty.  Commission Policy 26 requires that every faculty member at every institution must be subject to some type of substantive performance evaluation at least every third year.  The committee found much unevenness across campus in the implementation of campus policies for faculty review, especially review of tenured faculty.  Furthermore, 1996 Faculty Handbook requires post-tenure review for tenured faculty at the rank of full professor only every five years.  Hence, the institution needs to be sure it complies with Standard VII - Instructional Staff and Commission Policy 26 - Faculty Evaluation."