GOVERNANCE TASKFORCE

MINUTES, Sept. 14, 2004

AGENDA

1. P&T PROPOSAL

2. ROLE OF NON-TENURE-TRACK FACULTY IN GOVERNANCE

3. REPRESENTATION OF CONSTITUENCIES IN COUNCIL OR SENATE

Attending: Braam, Caldwell, Grandy, Long, Scott, Zeff, Crowell (FC liaison)

1. P&T PROPOSAL

The Task Force is reaching consensus on the following points concerning the Promotion and Tenure Committee:

• The Promotion and Tenure Committee should be separated from Faculty Council (or a Faculty Senate, if such is adopted) in order to relieve the burden placed on the committee members who have to review promotion files.
• The Promotion and Tenure Committee should remain a University-wide committee, at least until further investigation. Suggestions for replacing it with committees at the level of the school raise numerous questions about the power of the Dean and uniformity of the process.
• The Promotion and Tenure Committee should consist of up to 8 members, chosen as follows:
• The School of Natural Sciences, the School of Humanities, the School of Social Sciences, and the School of Engineering should each elect one representative to P&T. Any full professor may be nominated for the position on the basis of a petition with at least ten signatures.
• The School of Management, the School of Music, and the School of Architecture should together vote to elect one representative to P&T. Any full professor may be nominated for the position on the basis of a petition with at least ten signatures.
• The Provost may appoint up to three additional full professors to a one-year term on the P&T Committee.

The Task Force had several opinions on term length. Some called for one three year term, limited to one term. Others called for one three year term, with the possibility of one reelection, for a limit of two terms of consecutive service on P&T. Still others suggested one four-year term, nonrenewable.

2. ROLE OF NON-TENURE-TRACK FACULTY IN GOVERNANCE

The Task Force discussed the role of non-tenure-track faculty, including lecturers and research scholars, in governance, both at present and in the future.

Currently some non-tenure track faculty have the right to vote in meetings of the general faculty: "Full-time Lecturers and Instructors who have two or more years in these positions at Rice University; Untenured part-time Professors, Associate Professors, and Assistant Professors designated as half-time or more with two or more years in these positions at Rice University." In addition, "Research faculty (Distinguished Faculty Fellows, Senior Faculty Fellows, and Faculty Fellows) are entitled to attend faculty meetings and to vote on matters arising therein except those pertaining to tenure and exclusively to undergraduate curriculum and affairs."

There is no provision under the present system for non-tenure-track faculty to serve on Faculty or University Council.

The Task Force discussed whether a Faculty Senate should include one or more representative slots reserved for non-tenure track faculty and what role non-tenure-track faculty might play in the election of representatives to either a Faculty Senate or a reformed Faculty Council. No consensus was reached on these topics.

3. REPRESENTATION OF CONSTITUENCIES IN COUNCIL OR SENATE

In order to address the issues related to representation better, the Task Force asked Caldwell to compile the following information:

… How many tenure-track faculty are in each school?

… How many tenure-track faculty are in each department?

… How many full-time lecturers, research scholars, etc., are in each school?

… How many part-time lecturers, research scholars, etc., are in each school?

Individual members of the Task Force will begin developing models of representation that specify where elections occur and how constituencies in the University are to be constituted. The models will seek to answer the following questions:

… What are the voting constituencies, and how does an election take place?

… What role do non-tenure-track faculty play in the elections?

… What is the total number of representatives in the Council or Senate?

… How long is the term in office? Should there be term limits?

In addition, the individual members will start to address the question of what authority the Council or Senate should have, and under what conditions the entire faculty should vote on an issue.