General Faculty Council members yesterday expressed their displeasure over possible revisions to policies of retention requirements and notification of termination.
Joyce Green Pastors, chairwoman of the Council's General Faculty Policy Committee, said a committee comprised of Provost's Office officials and the Council - a 16-member organization representing all non-tenure track faculty members - submitted the most recent draft of proposed changes to the Provost's Policy on General Faculty in December.
But Pastors said certain problems within the revision look like they will prevent the draft from getting approval.
Specifically, she said the Council finds problems with the clauses discussing standards of notice for releasing employees and expectations of continued employment.
As the draft is written now, there is no expectation for continued employment, she said.
The Provost's Office seems more interested in the best interests of the administration than that of individual faculty members, Pastors said.
Questions were raised over whether the alleged lack of expectation for continued employment would deter people from accepting positions within the University and cause them to choose to accept positions at other colleges and universities.
Assoc. Provost for Management Kathrine M. Reed said to her knowledge, the wording as it exists in the current policy has never functioned as such a deterrent.
A task force of Council members started reviewing the policy to recommend changes in 1998.
However, Council Chairwoman Jane E. Penner said the Provost's Office and the Council did not communicate seriously about the document until this past winter.
Council members were happy with the 1998 revisions, but the Provost's Office was not, Penner said.
The two groups hoped the December draft would allow both sides to come together, she said.
"The Council is not exactly convinced the December draft is where we want things," she added.
The Faculty Senate shares many of the same interests as the Council, and has worked with Council members to help revise the policy, Faculty Senate Chairman David T. Gies said.
"We will welcome the opportunity to look at the policy again if the General Faculty Council thinks that we have an appropriate role in it," Gies said.
Representatives from the Provost's Office were scheduled to meet with Council in April, but Council members decided to cancel the meeting instead and request that the Provost's Office address their comments on the December draft in writing.
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