Grundy Reporter

University of Illinois System Senate Committee on General University Policy met Aug. 26.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

I. CALL TO ORDER

A regular meeting of the Senate Committee on General University Policy (GP) was called to order at 9:00 am with Chair Burbules presiding.

II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of the April 23, 2020 meeting were approved as distributed.

III. PUBLIC COMMENT

No requests received.

IV. CHAIR’S REMARKS

Chair Burbules welcomed new and returning committee members and had each introduce themselves.

V. OLD BUSINESS

GP.15.01, Statement on Administrative Hiring Practices

Chair Burbules commented that GP developed a document regarding policies on administrative hiring in response to a concern that individuals in acting appointments were moved into permanent appointments without a search process. The drafted guidelines regularize the process of a search for senior positions and also specify the length of time an interim can serve prior to a search occurring. GP has worked with the Office of the Provost and Illinois Human Resources to have the document enshrined somewhere. GP will continue to discuss this issue this year.

GP.15.08, Tenure Review

Chair Burbules commented that GP has discussed the inconsistency in the levels of tenure review across units on campus. He noted that this issue may be addressed in the revisions to Provost Communication #9 (GP.20.02).

GP.20.02, Review of Provost Communication #9: Promotion and Tenure

Bernhard gave an overview of the revisions under consideration for Provost Communication #9. He will share suggested revisions with GP for input at a future meeting.

GP.20.03, Proposed Revisions to the Statutes, Articles IX and X – Administrative Leave Chair Burbules reported that GP discussed guidelines regarding administrative leave last year. GP will continue its review of the proposed revisions at a future meeting.

GP.21.01, Intellectual Property in Relation to Course Materials

Chair Burbules reported that Kevin Pitts, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, requested input from the Senate over the summer on two contracts regarding intellectual property.

Chair Burbules noted that the General Rules include guidelines pertaining to course development. If a faculty member develops a course using their own materials and equipment, then the content of the course belongs fully to the faculty member. If the faculty member leaves the University, they can take the course with them and the unit cannot continue to teach the course. However, any time a faculty member accepts “over and above” support to develop a course, then the faculty member can still take the course with them if they leave, but the unit can still continue to teach the course since they contributed to its development. Chair Burbules commented that GP has discussed wording that alerts a faculty member to the difference in developing a course with or without “over and above” usual support.

Chair Burbules reported that he shared GP’s input with Pitts and the Office of the Provost. The contracts will be revised following that feedback.

VI. NEW BUSINESS

GP.21.02, Modifications to Provost Communication #9: Promotion and Tenure in Relation to COVID-19

Bernhard commented that the Office of the Provost has requested feedback from GP on modifications to Provost Communication #9 as a result of COVID-19. Bernhard noted that the pandemic has impacted faculty members in many ways including illness of themselves or family members, the closure of labs, and the inability to access materials for research. He noted that the modifications to Provost Communication #9 would be in addition to the option of a tenure rollback.

Bernhard commented that some of the milestones that the University may normally use when considering tenure (e.g., articles published) may not be possible, so the modifications would provide an opportunity for candidates to discuss the impact of COVID-19 and what it has meant for their research and teaching. The modifications are not to lower standards for tenure, but to recognize that COVID will change the information available.

Rosenstock requested clarification of a phrase in the Preamble: “We must accept that our inferences about a candidate’s future potential will likely be based on a reduced level of information than in the past.” Bernhard responded that with COVID interrupting and changing the faculty trajectory across research and teaching, then there will be fewer items on the CV and fewer points of information for the tenure consideration. He noted that the quantity of the information may be less, but the tenure committee will still evaluate the quality of what is available.

Basu noted concern with the perception of in-person seminars and invited talks vs. webinars. He questioned if there is an institutional effort to encourage tenure committees to change their perception without compromising the evaluation. Bernhard commented that the University needs to be open to the possibility that web-based seminars may become the norm so it would be helpful to include in the document.

Chair Burbules noted the general perception is that promotion and tenure is a reward a faculty member has received based upon achieving a certain threshold of productivity.

He commented that promotion and tenure is better viewed as a prediction of lifelong productivity and quality based on the work that has been done during the probationary period. He suggested that the intent of promotion and tenure should be made clear in the modifications.

Ward noted there is a variation on the COVID impact across campus with some units where research was not interrupted.

Chair Burbules will draft a summary of today’s discussion and send it to Bernhard.

VII. ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 10:15 am.

https://uofi.app.box.com/v/GeneralUniversityPolicy/file/719968593599