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

REGENTS’ POLICY MANUALSECTION 2—ACADEMICSThe plan for terminating faculty employment shall be in accordance with the following guidelines:1) To the extent possible, alternatives other than termination of employment should be explored.Examples of such alternatives are early retirement, fractional appointments, and reduction ofsalaries, including annual base salary.2) Unless a substantial and serious imbalance in the quality within a given program wouldresult:a. Employment of untenured faculty should be terminated before that of tenured faculty.b. Performance, promise, seniority, and affirmative action guidelines should be considered indecisions concerning termination of untenured faculty.c. Equitable reinstatement procedures should be established if the program is reinstated.3) Where termination of employment is required:a. Where termination of employment of faculty with tenure-track or consecutive termappointments is required, procedures in regard to non-reappointment stated in the FacultyHandbook (See Faculty Handbook Section 3.2.7) should be observed, if possible. Allnotifications of non-reappointment shall be given in writing by the Senior Vice Presidentand Provost.b. Tenured faculty must be notified by the President of termination by May 31 of the yearpreceding the final year of appointment and at least 12 months before the end of theappointment period. The dismissal of tenured faculty must be approved by the Board ofRegents (See Faculty Handbook Section 3.13).4) Where employment of a tenured faculty member has been terminated or where he or she hasaccepted alternative employment with the University, the faculty member has a three-yearpriority to return to his or her original position or be employed in another position for whichhe or she is qualified. Qualification for employment in another position within the Universityshall be determined by the head of the academic unit with a position vacancy. Within thethree-year period, someone else shall not be employed to fill the faculty member’s position orany other position for which the faculty member is qualified until the faculty member hasbeen offered reinstatement or re-employment and has been given a reasonable time (not toexceed 45 days) within which to accept. It is the responsibility of the faculty member to keepthe University informed of his/her address and availability for re-employment. The right of afaculty member to be employed in another position is subject, in accordance with paragraph2. a-c, 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 forrestoration of his/her former status as the faculty member, described above, whoseemployment has been terminated.5) Each faculty member whose employment has been terminated has the right to have his or hertermination of employment reviewed by the Faculty Appeals Board to determine if theseguidelines have been followed, but the circumstances of the financial emergency shall not bereviewed.(b) Student — If a program is discontinued, students in the program shall be notified and every effortshall be made to allow them to finish their program. If it is not possible for students to complete theirrespective programs, the University may be obliged to make special allowances for such students.Special allowances might include, but are not limited to, the following: permitting the student to completehis/her program by taking work in related departments, accepting more than the usual number of transferhours, and accepting major work taken by correspondence from the University or other schools.THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 117