Representing thousands of University faculty and staff members, the University's General Faculty Council is pursuing a number of new initiatives this year to better serve a broad-based constituency that ranges from teaching faculty to librarians.
A major issue the GFC will tackle this year is clarifying the University administration's interpretation of the "expectation of continued employment" policy for general faculty, said Donal Day, a member of the GFC policy committee.
General faculty are not considered tenure or tenure-track faculty or classified staff. Day said in the past, general faculty only could be laid-off because of the abolition of their position, a specific cause, such as poor performance, or the condition of a severe University-wide fiscal crisis called "financial stringency."
Now, Day said, the University seems to be taking a more flexible interpretation of the expectation of continued employment. Such an interpretation concerns Day because it gives the University more leeway in deciding where it lays off staff.
After six years, general faculty members typically achieve an "expectation of continued employment" status following a major performance review.
"It's sort of the general faculty's version of tenure, but we have to be very careful not to call it that -- it's not tenure," Day said.
The GFC also is working to secure better health insurance benefits for part-time general faculty, Day said.
"We are trying to assist the University in surveying peer institutions [about their health benefits] to see what they do and see how successful these programs are," he said.
The GFC serves thousands of University general faculty, but there is no way of determining an exact number, said Prue Thorner, chair of the GFC communications committee.
"The University has computer systems that gather information by school and by department by all different categories," she said. "But try and split it up into how many of these [employees] are general faculty and how may of these are tenure track -- it doesn't fall out very neatly."
In the future, the GFC may work with the faculty senate, which represents tenure-track and tenured faculty, on developing a joint committee to address overlapping issues of interest, Faculty Senate Chair Robert E. Davis said.
"We haven't yet gotten to that," Davis said. "It's something we will be working on at our next meeting. I suspect we will be setting up a joint committee to talk about issues that affect all of the faculty, not just the academic faculty. It seems like a pretty reasonable thing to do."
Many general faculty members are not even aware of their employment status themselves, Thorner said.
"People when they are hired are very often not told that they're being recruited as a member of the general faculty," she said. "People in the excitement of accepting an offer don't think to ask what kind of employment category they might be in."
Read More
Virginia primary elections feature contested race for Democratic Lt. Gov. candidate
By Nicolas Biernacki | 58 minutes agoEligible voters can find more information about early voting by consulting the City Department of Voter Registration & Elections website or the County Department of Elections website.
Professor and researcher Daniel Flannery discusses youth violence and prevention
By Jackie Bond | 8 hours agoDr. Daniel Flannery discussed the cycle of violence from adolescence to adulthood, and the correlation between unrestricted gun access and mass violence.
Board of Visitors ends support for racial diversity goals
By Brendon Bordwine | 20 hours agoThe newly approved resolution, titled “Advancing Free Inquiry and Viewpoint Diversity at U.Va.”, calls for efforts to create a campus environment that supports open political dialogue, constructive debate and respect for differing perspectives.
