The vast majority of tenured faculty members offer vital contributions throughout their careers to advance the teaching and research missions of their colleges and universities. However, addressing the performance and conduct issues posed by a small number of tenured faculty in a shared governance framework often requires a large-scale coordinated effort on the part of counsel, provosts, department chairs, and a cadre of other institutional leaders. The result is usually limited success in minimizing the legal and reputational risks posed by an underperforming or misbehaving faculty member – or worse— messy and public complaints, litigation, and internal cultural strife.
Join us for a 90-minute webinar in which two expert NACUA member attorneys will discuss post-tenure faculty review, including:
- Legal developments over time that have impacted the institution of tenure that have both contributed to the challenge of problematic tenured faculty members and recently provided an opportunity to address this issue;
- Costs and benefits of instituting a post-tenure review policy or system that balances risk mitigation, due process, and respect for academic freedom;
- Practical considerations such as building internal stakeholder support;
- And employment legal implications including conducting defensible reviews, unionized faculty, and more.
This webinar will be of particular interest to counsel who advise on faculty matters, academic affairs, employment law, and institutional policy development and management, as well as institutional colleagues in the Offices of the Provost, Faculty Affairs, and Academic Affairs.