Senate
Document No.
PROPOSAL
TO THE ACADEMIC SENATE
TITLE:
Suspending the “Tenure Clock” for Tenure Track Faculty Members Eligible for
Family or Medical Leave
SUBMITTED
BY: Faculty Affairs Committee
DATE:
ACTION:
Legislative
REFERENCE: Faculty Policies-- Academic Freedom and
Tenure, Regulations §2(a)--Final Form Approved by Faculty, Approved by Board of
Trustees, Effective
DESCRIPTION
OF PROPOSAL
Introduction
The University policy already allows
a faculty member who takes such leave, or leave for a serious illness, or to
care for a parent, spouse or child with a serious illness to stop the tenure
clock for the period of such leave (if such leave is one semester or more).[1] In fact, the University’s policy
automatically stops the tenure clock in such circumstances unless the faculty
member specifically requests in writing that the clock not be stopped.[2]
The Faculty Affairs Committee of the
Academic Senate (“the Committee” or “FACAS”), as part of an ongoing review of
University policies on maternity and paternity leave, has determined the above policy ought to be
extended to those faculty members who are eligible for this type of leave, but
choose not to take it. It also has
determined that the University’s policy on suspending the tenure clock should
be amended to provide for the placement of a child with a faculty member for
foster care as a grounds for stopping the tenure clock. Finally, the Committee has determined that
the terms in the current policy should be given definitions and that those
definitions should come from the regulations under the Family and Medical Leave
Act of 1993.
Rationale
The reality for many faculty members
is that they cannot afford to take unpaid family or medical leave and attempt
to “tough it out” by continuing to carry out their teaching, research and
service obligations as best they can.
These faculty members are, arguably, in even greater need of having the
tenure clock stopped than faculty members who actually take leave. Given their pressing family or medical needs,
their research agendas and duties are even more likely to suffer than faculty
members who are on leave.
The burden of trying to juggle
academic duties and family or medical exigencies falls particularly heavily on
tenure track women faculty members who are pregnant. For this reason, the American Association of
University Professors’ Committee on the Status of Women in the Academic
Profession and its Subcommittee on Academic Work and Family specifically
recommend that the tenure clock be stopped for faculty members who are eligible
for family or medical leave, but do not actually take leave.[3] These considerations have led the Committee
to make its recommendation to amend Section 2(a) of the the University’s Faculty
Policies-- Academic Freedom and Tenure, Regulations to allow tenure track
faculty members who are eligible for family or medical leave, but do not
actually take the leave, to stop the tenure clock for the period for which they
would have been eligible to take leave.
The FACAS proposes to make this change by adding new Section 2(a)(4) to
the current Policy on Academic Freedom and Tenure, Regulations.
The new section proposed by the
Committee also requires that faculty member in such a position be required to
give notice of his or her wish to stop the tenure clock in the same time frame
that he or she would be required to give notice of their desire to take leave. In making this recommendation, the Committee
was motivated by a desire to avoid administrative complexities and to treat
persons who were eligible for but did not take leave, in much the same manner
as their counterparts who decided to take leave.
The FACAS also recommends the adoption
of two minor changes to the current Faculty Policies–Academic Freedom and
Tenure, Regulation. First, the
Committee proposes that section 2(a)(1) of that document be amended to
recognize placement of a child with a faculty member for foster care as a
grounds for suspending the tenure clock.
The existing University policy attempts to track as grounds for
suspending the tenure clock, the grounds contained in the Family and Medical
Leave Act of 1993 and the regulations under that Act. Those regulations currently recognize the
placement of a child for foster care as a grounds for invoking family or
medical leave. The University’s current
policy does not expressly deal with that situation. The Committee believes that the placement of
a child with a faculty member for foster care does justify stopping the tenure
clock whether the faculty member chooses to take leave or not. Therefore, the Committee recommends adding
its proposed language to section 2(a)(1) to accomplish that objective.
Second, the current University
Policy contains no definition of terms such as “serious medical condition” or
“adoption of a child.” In the interests
of clarity and fairness, the Committee believes that these and the other terms in
section 2(a)(1) should be defined. The
Committee proposes that section 2(a)(1) be amended to adopt explicitly the
definitions contained in the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and the
regulations thereunder. The Committee
did not attempt to develop its own definitions in order to avoid reinventing
the wheel. The Committee believes that
use of the definitions under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and its
attendant regulations is particularly appropriate given that section 2(a)(1),
as now written, attempts to track those sources.
Finally, the Committee believes that
its recommended changes will have no fiscal impact whatsoever on the
University.
TEXT
OF THE PROPOSAL
The Faculty Affairs Committee
recommends that the Academic Senate recommend to the faculty and the Board of
Trustees of the University that section 2(a) of the Faculty Policies–Academic
Freedom and Tenure, Regulations be amended to read as follows:
Note:
Italicized language is the
proposed new language for this policy.
No language has been removed from the current policy.
Faculty
Policies
Academic
Freedom and Tenure, Regulations
.
2.
Probationary Appointments
a.
Probationary appointments may be for one year or for other stated periods,
subject to renewal. The total period of full-time service prior to the acquisition
of tenure will not exceed seven (7) years, including all previous full-time
service with the rank of instructor or higher in other institutions of higher
learning, except that the probationary period may extend to as much as four
consecutive years at the University of Dayton, even if the total full-time
service in the profession thereby exceeds seven years; the terms of such
extension will be stated in writing at the time of initial appointment. Time
spent on a leave of absence will count as probationary period service except in
the following cases:
(1)
When a faculty member takes a leave of absence pursuant to Regulation 12 of
this document ("Political Activities of Faculty Members"), the time
spent on such a leave will not count as probationary service unless otherwise
agreed to by the institution and the employee at the time the leave is granted.
(2)
A faculty member who takes a leave for at least one semester due to the birth
of a child, the adoption or placement
with the faculty member for foster care of a child, to care for a spouse,
parent, son, or daughter who has a serious medical condition, or due to the
faculty member's own serious medical condition, may decide not to count as
probationary service the academic year in which the leave occurs. Unless the
faculty member indicates a contrary choice in writing at the time the leave is
taken, the academic year in which the leave occurs does not count as
probationary service. The terms in this subsection shall be
defined in accordance with the definitions contained in the Family and Medical
Leave Act of 1993 and the regulations promulgated thereunder.
(3)
When the individual and the institution so agree in writing at the time the
leave is granted, the academic year in which the leave is taken will not count
as probationary service.
(4) If a faculty member is eligible for a
leave of absence under subsection 2(a)(2) of this section, but chooses not to
take such a leave of absence, the faculty member may choose to have the period
for which they would have been eligible for a leave of absence not counted as
probationary service. To have such time
not counted as probationary service, the faculty member must notify, in
writing, their department chair, or if not assigned to an academic department,
the dean or other principal academic officer of their unit, that they wish to
have the time they would have been eligible for leave not counted as
probationary service. Such notice must
be provided to the appropriate person no
later than the time specified for any notice which must be furnished to
establish eligibility for the leave described in subsection 2(a)(2) of this
section.
When
the probationary period has been interrupted by a leave of absence that does
not count as probationary service, or
pursuant to subsection (4) of this section, subsequent steps in the review
process will be delayed by the amount of time excluded from probationary
service. Further, in all subsequent reviews, the year in which the leave was
taken will be excluded from the faculty member's total years of service in
determining the standards governing review of the faculty member. That is, for
example, in tenure reviews of faculty members whose tenure "clock"
was "stopped" during a leave of absence, the faculty member will not
be judged at tenure review as though the "clock" had not been
"stopped."
[1]University of Dayton, Faculty Policies--Academic Freedom and Tenure, Regulations §2(a)(2) (effective August 15, 1996) (available at http://facstaff01.udayton.edu/FacultyH.nsf).
[3]AAUP. Committee
on the Status of Women in the Academic Profession & Subcommittee on
Academic Work and Family, Statement of Principles on Family Responsibilities
and Academic Work (available at http://www.aaup.org/statements/REPORTS/re01fam.htm) The substance of the Statement has also been
endorsed by the AAUP’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure. Id.