ESR POLICY ON FACULTY RETENTION, PROMOTION AND LEAVES
Earlham School of Religion (ESR), as a seminary and graduate school, functions administratively as one component of the larger Earlham Corporation also constituted by Earlham College. The general guidelines covering its own faculty policies, therefore, are understood to be the same as those found in the Earlham College Handbook. The following document is not intended to replace that Handbook. Rather, it is an adaptation of specific parts of the Handbook in order to reflect the special perspective by which Earlham School of Religion has chosen to address differently certain faculty-related issues common to both institutions.
The concerns of this document focus on the matter of faculty* retention, promotion and leave. These matters traditionally have been handled within the framework of the so-called “tenure system.” The strength of that system is the protection it provides for the individual who has served an institution for a designated number of years. It provides professional freedom for the faculty member which is important to any vital academic community. However, this strength is also the focus of the weakness of the tenure system. It affords little vocational security for the faculty member in the first years of teaching. It forces the institution to make a decision about the faculty member’s retention at a preordained moment. This moment may not be the appropriate time either for the individual or for the institution. The tenure system provides few administrative options for the institution once it has granted tenure to a faculty member. The options of the individual are still open; it is possible to leave at any time. Experience has shown, however, that the options of the institution under the tenure system to deal with inadequate faculty performance are so limited as to be negligible. It is our conviction that a procedure should be developed for dealing with questions of retention, promotion and leave which will preserve the strength in the tenure system while at the same time avoiding the weaknesses. Such a procedure must recognize the need of the individual for professional freedom to work creatively from the first day at Earlham School of Religion to the last. Along with this, such a procedure must also recognize the legitimate expectations of the institution for the continual growth and competency of its personnel. This document outlines a procedure for responding to these concerns.
Decisions regarding the appointment and retention of faculty at Earlham School of Religion are made by the faculty in consultation with the Board of Advisors of the Earlham School of Religion. The decision of the faculty of ESR will be communicated by the Dean of ESR to the President of Earlham and to the Earlham Board of Trustees for their approval. Decisions about faculty retention will be made after receiving the report from the ESR Faculty Review Committee. When faculty members are employed, it is with the understanding that they are joining a community of teachers who take seriously their responsibility to one another and to the ESR community as a whole. It is within the context of this communal understanding that matters of retention, promotion and leave are to be considered and recommendations are to be made.
*“Faculty” in this document is meant to refer to both teaching and administrative faculty.
Retention
In place of the traditional tenure system procedures, a faculty member’s performance and future service are to be implemented by an ongoing plan of review, evaluation and consultation. The underlying philosophy of such a plan is that regular review of faculty work is for the purpose of helping each person improve the quality of his or her service to the ESR community. While inadequate performance will be recognized and addressed, the fundamental purpose of review and evaluation is intended to be positive and supportive.
It is important that faculty members receive a steady flow of feedback from students and colleagues as to the effectiveness of their administrative work, teaching, scholarship and general contribution to the life of the ESR community. Some of this can be done through student evaluation of courses and of other student-faculty relationships. It can be further accomplished through faculty consultations each year in which faculty members will have an opportunity to discuss with their colleagues their institutional responsibilities, concerns and hopes.
In addition to, and developing from, the benefits of the community's ongoing feedback and faculty consultation, there will be a regular in-depth review of each faculty member's performance every fifth year by a Faculty Review Committee. Two elected members of the faculty shall constitute this committee. The selection process for the committee requires that all faculty persons indicate their first, second and third choice of eligible persons by closed ballot. (Three points will be assigned for every first choice, two for a second choice, one for a third choice.) The appointment of new faculty persons normally is for a two-year period. They will undergo a review during the second year. The next review will take place in their fifth year.
The faculty member under review may request the faculty to add to the committee an additional person from the faculty of another institution of higher education, if the faculty member under review thinks such an addition would facilitate a more adequate review process. The request should come in writing to the faculty prior to the selection of the committee, and should include a statement of the particularities of the addition and a rationale for it. In each case, the faculty will receive the request under the joint presumptions of the fairness of our review process and the rightness of the request. While the faculty must ascertain the appropriateness of a particular request, they will do so recognizing the power differential between the institution and the person under review. Because the person under review is in the vulnerable position, the faculty will approve the request unless the request is deemed for specific reasons clearly inappropriate. If the decision of the faculty is not agreeable to the person under review, that person and the faculty will work together to find an appropriate alternative. In case of an impasse, in the selection of an additional member to the Review Committee, between the faculty and the person under review, the President of Earlham will be brought in to adjudicate the dispute.
The additional person selected to serve on the committee shall neither be an advocate for the faculty member under review, nor an advocate for the School. The person should not be a personal friend of the reviewee. The person should be selected on the basis of knowledge of seminary education and of the discipline the reviewee has been appointed to teach at ESR. The purpose of the person’s presence on the committee is to provide, insofar as possible, a completely impartial judgment of the data collected in the review process.
A letter of invitation should be written by the Dean to invite the additional outside member to serve on the committee, which should include an offer of appropriate compensation for the rendered services. How often and where the person would meet with the committee would be decided by the committee. At minimum, the additional person must have full and convenient access to all data and must participate in the deliberative interpretation of the data that leads the committee to its recommendations.
Besides the two elected faculty members, the Dean shall participate in the committee review as an ex-officio member by virtue of the administrative responsibilities connected with that office. In addition, the committee may invite individuals such as students, members of the Board of Advisors, alumni, additional faculty members, and other appropriate consultants to assist them in their task. Before any final judgment is reached by the committee, the faculty member up for review will be invited to meet with the committee to share in a discussion of his or her performance and future service.
The committee recommendations about a faculty member’s retention and promotion are to be reported to the faculty as a whole and given in final form to the Dean. It is the Dean, in consultation with the Board of Advisors, who is responsible for deciding whether these recommendations are to be sent to the President and the Board of Trustees. Any of the constituent parties not satisfied with the Dean’s decision may appeal to the President and/or the Earlham Board of Trustees.
When a faculty appointment is discontinued for reasons other than the faculty member’s own personal initiative, and he or she agrees that the decision to terminate the appointment has been handled justly and has been made in the best interest of the School as judged by his or her colleagues, the School will seek to be supportive as the attempt is made to seek other employment--irrespective of the faculty member’s length of service to the community. If a faculty member has been with the School five years, he or she will be entitled to receive up to six months’ salary subsidy if another position which he or she deems acceptable cannot be found for the year following the last contract. After serving ten years or more, the faculty member will be entitled to receive up to one year’s full salary while seeking a new position. It is understood the salary subsidy in these cases will end when a new position is secured and new employment begins. The faculty member shall be notified by January 1st of the last contract year that his or her appointment will be discontinued.
As a further attempt to approximate some of the safeguards to the individual faculty member in the traditional tenure system, it will be assumed that any faculty member serving the School for at least five years who feels the decision to discontinue his or her appointment was not handled justly, even after appeal, can claim a compensation of up to six months’ salary from the School--irrespective of when he or she assumes the new position of employment. Those who have been with the School ten years or more can claim a compensation of up to one full year’s salary--again, irrespective of when any new employment begins.
At the initiative of a faculty member or the Dean, there may be worked out by mutual agreement part-time employment and part-time income, or/and an early retirement at age 62. By mutual agreement there also may be a change of assignment or work load with full-time salary. In this way ESR will be able to respond to a need for a change of pace or of interests on the part of a faculty member. It is assumed that faculty members will retire at age 65. However, if the School or the individual wishes to carry a contract forward on a year-to-year basis, this may be accomplished by mutual agreement.
Promotion
Decisions regarding promotion of faculty are made by the Dean of the School of Religion, subject to the approval of the Board of Advisors, the President of Earlham, and the Earlham Trustees.
Promotions shall be recommended to the Dean by the same committee procedure as pertains to retention of faculty, and questions of promotion normally will be decided at the regular five year review of faculty performance. Promotion for teaching and administrative faculty will follow a pattern similar to the practices of comparable schools of higher education.
Leaves for Professional Growth
It is assumed that each faculty member constantly will be engaged in a personal program of professional growth. To facilitate this professional growth the following policy on leaves will be implemented. A faculty member may be on leave if ESR salary costs are not increased as a result of his or her absence. It is guaranteed, however, that the faculty member will receive full salary for a one-semester leave, or, at minimum, half salary for a full year’s leave. Normally a one-semester leave will be granted after completing four-and-a-half years of full-time teaching. A full year’s leave or a two-semester leave will be granted after six years. It is assumed there is a commitment by the faculty member to return for a full year of teaching after the completion of such leaves.
In cases of more than one-semester leaves where the minimum salary provision can be shown to work special financial hardship on the faculty member, a request for additional assistance may be submitted to the Dean. It is understood that foundation grants and stipends awarded for such professional leaves are solely the recipient’s monies.
The request for all faculty leaves for professional growth will be handled by the Dean. The Dean will work closely with faculty members in planning leaves for individual growth and will offer suggestions aimed at helping schedule leaves which will be most beneficial to the faculty person and in keeping with the needs of the School. The School will accommodate faculty members whenever possible as special leave opportunities present themselves.
Even though the functional relationships and contract arrangements of the administrative faculty in the School are somewhat different from those of the teaching faculty, the same leave provisions will be honored insofar as institutional needs permit.