Minutes of a Regular Meeting, June 22-23, 2004 - Digital Collections

REGENTS’ POLICY MANUALSECTION 2—ACADEMICS• A tenured faculty member who is not to be reappointed because of a program discontinuancemust be so notified no later than May 31 of the year preceding the final year of appointment.The University will make every reasonable effort to reassign tenured faculty members to positions forwhich they are properly qualified before dismissal results from the discontinuance of a program.If the University adds positions during a three-year period following transfer or termination, such facultymembers should be given priority for positions for which they are properly qualified.In all cases of termination of tenured faculty because of the discontinuance of an academic program, theplace of the tenured faculty member concerned will not be filled by a replacement within a period of threeyears, unless the released faculty member has been offered reinstatement and a reasonable time (not toexceed 45 days) in which to accept or decline it. The right of a faculty member to be employed in anotherposition is subject to the rights of other faculty members who have also been terminated or transferred.A faculty member whose salary or FTE has been reduced shall have the same priority for restoration tohis or her former status over a new person.Each terminated faculty member has the right to have his or her termination reviewed by the FacultyAppeals Board to determine if these guidelines have been followed, but the circumstances of the programdiscontinuance shall not be reviewed.To the extent possible, alternatives other than termination should be explored. Examples of suchalternatives are early retirement, fractional appointments, and reduction in salaries.Unless a substantial and serious imbalance in the quality within a given program would result:• Untenured faculty should be terminated before tenured faculty.• Seniority should be respected.• Equal Opportunity guidelines should be observed.Student AlternativesIf a decision is made to discontinue a program(s), the students currently enrolled in the program shall benotified and every effort shall be made to allow them to finish their programs through continuousenrollment of not more than four years. If it is not possible for currently enrolled students to completetheir program for reasons beyond their control, the University may make special allowances for suchstudents. Such allowances might include, but are not limited to, the following: permitting the student tocomplete his or her program by taking work in related departments; accepting more than the usual numberof transfer hours; and accepting major work taken by correspondence from the University and otherschools.(RM, 11-10-77, pp. 14708-12; 4-7-93, p.23301; 1-27-2004, p. 28924)Program Discontinuance – Health Sciences Center Campus.In the event that program discontinuance is proposed, the Review Committee will be convened by itschair to review and evaluate all matters relating to the proposed discontinuance and to makerecommendations.THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 115