ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRIVILEGE AND TENURE COMMITTEE

To: The Representative Assembly of the Davis Division of the Academic Senate

The P&T Investigative Committee has investigated or acted on 12 cases of formal grievance or misconduct during this past academic year. Of the 12 cases before the committee, seven (7) were new and five (5) continuing from the prior academic year. Of the 12 cases, the committee has sent two (2) forward to the Hearing committee one (1) requested that the matter be tabled, three (3) are continuing and six (6) have been completed. The two Hearing cases were conducted and the Hearings completed; the first under Professor R. Wydick and the final report filed. The second under Professor R. Hillman; the formal hearings are completed but the final report remains to be filed.

The grievances submitted by the faculty to the P&T Committee can be categorized as follows: 1) seven addressed denial of merit or promotion based on flawed process, 2) two cited errors in correctly crediting years of service related to normal review process or for sabbatical leave purposes and 3) one complaint involved the validity of the process established for the shared use of research equipment and space. Of the seven cases related to denied merit and/or promotion, they differed widely in their scope and complexity.

The P&T Committee met approximately every six weeks through out the year to discuss the results of ongoing investigations and to reach consensus and formal recommendation to the Vice Chancellor of academic personnel. Each case is assigned to a lead committee member for investigation. Much of the committee members’ time is spent in reading over the personnel files, arranging meetings with the faculty-grievant and related faculty and administrators who are deemed essential to a comprehensive and valid investigation. As appropriate, more than one committee member may be asked to investigate or interview the critical aspects of a case. In this respect the workload for the committee members this past academic year was nominal by comparison to recent years.

Despite the apparent increase difficulty in scheduling committee meetings, investigative interviews, consensus/clarification meetings with administrators, I feel that the faculty grievances to P&T Committee have been met in a timely fashion and fairly served. The Faculty Advisers have performed in an exemplary fashion and have been a valued help in our efforts this past year. One negative note however, is that committee members continue to find an unfortunate lack of understanding by both faculty and administrators of some of the essential processes embodied in the Academic Personnel Manual and the Academic Senate Bylaws related to faculty privilege and tenure. It occurs at all levels and unnecessarily encumbers or complicates many of the grievances and complaints received by the P&T committee.

Respectfully submitted,

Investigative Subcommittee: Margaret Johns, Penelope Knapp, Hank Segall, Arnold Sillman and Edmund Bernauer, Chair

Hearings Subcommittee: William Bommer, Chia-ning Chang, Satya Dandekar, Alan Elms, Ching-Yao, Kari Lokke, Paul Stumpf and Robert Hillman, Chair