ARTICLES OF GOVERNMENT
ARTICLE XI. Tenure Provisions

Section 1. Definition

"Tenure" is interpreted to mean "reasonable expectation of permanency" that is, service may be terminated only for a cause which an impartial committee shall deem to be legitimate.

Section 2. Acquisition of Tenure

A. A faculty member acquires tenure in September of the academic year following a favorable tenure letter.

B. A faculty member who receives an unfavorable tenure letter in December (or April) may remain at the College an additional year.

C. Recommendation for tenure should always be based upon evidence that the candidate is an able teacher and possesses intellectual enthusiasm and power. In judging qualifications of candidates, reference will be made to teaching ability, evidence of scholarly strength and growth including research activity and potential, the relation of the candidate to her/his department's structure, service to the College, including assumption of departmental and College wide responsibilities, and external professional activities. Work in progress as well as work completed will be considered. Procedures for a tenure review are described in Article IX, Section 6.

Section 3. Termination of Appointment After Tenure is Received

The expectation of permanency shall not be disappointed except as follows:

A. Legitimate causes for failure to reappoint after tenure has been acquired include: proved moral delinquency, failure to maintain high standards in teaching, mental disability, such physical disability as impairs teaching power, serious failure to cooperate with the department or the College. Whatever the cause, it shall have become apparent or have increased in gravity since the latest reappointment.

B. It is recognized that in case of serious mental or physical incapacity, or grave moral delinquency, the College has the right to dismiss at any time.

C. Termination of permanent or long term appointments because of financial exigencies, or curricular changes, should be sought only as a last resort, after every effort has been made to meet the need in other ways and to find for the teacher other employment in the institution. Situations which make drastic retrenchment of this sort necessary should preclude expansions of the staff at other points at the same time, except in extraordinary circumstances.

D. As soon as possible, notification in writing of a recommendation for dismissal or for termination of appointment in such cases as those described under (A), (B), and (C) shall be given by the President to the individual concerned, together with a statement of the reasons for terminating the appointment. A copy of the notification shall be given to the Department Chair.

E. The individual shall have the right to state her/his case before the Reappointments and Promotions Committee of the department and before the Committee on Faculty Appointments.

If the judgment of these committees is adverse, the individual shall have the right to appeal to a special committee provided she/he makes her/his appeal in writing within one month after the adverse judgment is received, the committee to be composed of five members agreed on by the President of the College, the Reappointments and Promotions Committee of the department, and the individual concerned. These five members shall include at least two chairs of departments other than the department concerned and may include an extramural authority. In the event that the President of the College, the Reappointments and Promotions Committee of the department and the individual concerned fail to agree on a special committee within one month after an appeal has been made, the composition of the committee may be settled by the Board of Trustees or its Executive Committee. At any hearing the individual whose dismissal or nonreappointment is in question shall have the right to present testimony from all sources and to have present at the hearing an advisor of her/his own choosing.

Section 4. Change in the Basis of Tenure

A. A tenured full time faculty member may request that his or her status be changed to that of a regular part time faculty member on tenure. A decision on this request is subject to agreement of the department and the Dean of the College.

B. A tenured faculty member on regular part time appointment may have his or her status changed to that of a full time tenured faculty member only after obtaining approval of the Reappointments and Promotions Committee of the department, the Dean of the College, and the Committee on Faculty Appointments.