ECU FACULTY MANUAL
INTERPRETATIONS
1990-Present

Listed below is the full text for each interpretation.

Part I. of the manual details the formation process for these interpretations.

Please call the Faculty Senate office at 328-6537 if you have questions.

 

I06-22

04-18-06

Secret Ballot Voting

Appendix D.

 


Interpretation of the ECU Faculty Manual, Appendix D. clarifying that the numbers of faculty votes either yea or nay or abstaining in secret ballot voting can not be shared with administrators. (Faculty Senate Resolution 06-20)

I05-21

10-11-05

Voting

Appendix D. Section IV.

 


Can fixed-term faculty members serve on search committees?  No.  Appendix D concerns all Procedures for Initiation, Review, and Approval of Appointments, Reappointments, Promotions, and the Conferral of Permanent Tenure. Appendix D’s definition of voting faculty must be used when selecting search committee members. Only voting faculty members, as defined by Appendix D may vote on the selection of a search committee. Only voting faculty members may serve on search committees. 

I05-20

9-28-05

Voting

Appendix L. Section B.

 


Part B of Appendix L allows all permanently tenured faculty members, regardless of administrative appointments, leaves of absence, etc., to vote on the acceptability of the nominees. Hence, in the case of a search for a new department chair, a nominee would be considered acceptable if he or she gets the endorsement of a majority of all of the permanently tenured faculty in the department. The total number of permanently tenured faculty in the department includes any tenured departmental faculty on leave of absence (if present and voting) or on administrative assignment within or outside the department. (Faculty Senate Resolution 05-40)

   

I05-19

2-22-05

Code Unit Changes

Appendix L. Section D.1.f.

 



Changes in unit nomenclature” referenced in Appendix L., Section D.1.f. include moving groups of faculty and/or disciplines from one coded unit to another. This type of move does not require UNC General Administration approval.

 

I03-18

4-22-03

Personnel Committee

Appendix  D. Section IV.A.3.



The unit personnel committee recommends the initial rank of faculty appointments.

I01-17

2-27-01

New Academic Units

Appendix  L. Section D.2.



A new professional school's proposal to organize into self-governing autonomous units shall be reviewed by the Faculty Governance Committee and the Faculty Senate as outlined in Appendix L section C.2. Vestigial codes are included with the proposal for the new school and are approved by the Educational Policies and Planning Committee, but subsequent unit codes shall be submitted to the Unit Code Screening Committee.

I01-16

2-27-01

Unit Personnel Committee

Appendix D. Section IV.A.3.

Unit administrators are ordinarily excluded from unit Personnel Committee discussions concerning candidates for appointment, re-appointment, promotion, or permanent tenure, and must be excluded from any meeting where votes are taken. However, at the invitation by a majority vote of the membership of the personnel committee, a unit administrator may meet with the committee to discuss initial appointments.

I00-15

11-14-00

Phrase "Spring Term"

Appendix D. Section IV. subsection E.

The sense of the Committee is to understand the phrase "spring term" to refer to the spring semester that ends with Commencement exercises. Therefore, it is advised that all academic divisions use the same dates for nine and twelve month faculty when personnel issues are involved.

I00-14

4-18-00

Related Faculty

Appendix D. Section IV.

Related faculty within the same academic department (or other comparable institutional subdivision of employment) shall not participate, either individually or as a member of a committee, in the evaluation of related persons for appointment, reappointment, promotion, the conferral of permanent tenure, cumulative review, salary recommendations, or any other personnel action. A faculty member made ineligible for participation in the evaluation of a related person does not count for quorum purposes and his/her ineligibility does not constitute a recommendation against the proposed personnel action.

I00-13

2-1-00

Voting Faculty Member and Quadrennial Unit Administrator

Appendix L. Section A. and Section F.

Would the 12 month consecutive calendar month of appointment status (excluding intervening summer months) apply to faculty re-appointed to a position or appointed to a different position because there would not have been a lapse in employment at ECU? Interpretation - The definition of a voting faculty member in Appendix L requires that the faculty member have "regular academic faculty rank" at the time of voting. It does not place any restrictions on the type of faculty appointment when requiring that a faculty member be "in at least the twelfth consecutive calendar month of appointment (counting all intervening summer months, if any) to the faculty of the unit in which the voting is to occur...." Appendix D, II.A.1 lists the categories of faculty appointments. Who can attend the quadrennial Unit Administrator Evaluation meeting per Appendix L.F.1.? Interpretation - The voting faculty of each unit shall vote on the effectiveness of the unit administrator. During September of the unit administrator's fourth year of appointment and every fourth year thereafter, the voting faculty shall discuss and vote by secret ballot on the effectiveness of the unit administrator. Given that the above procedure refers to "voting faculty shall discuss" and given that the procedure involves personnel matters, only voting faculty members should be in attendance during the discussion."

I99-12

12-7-99

Non-Concurring Personnel Recommendations

Appendix D. Section IV.I.

The faculty member should be informed of both concurring and non-concurring recommendations at every level, beginning with the unit administrator's recommendation and continuing up to the level where the final decision is made. The wording in the ECU Faculty Manual, Appendix D, Section IV. H. is clear that the candidate is informed of concurring recommendations. Immediately after the completion of each level of administrative review, the administrator's recommendation shall be communicated to all appropriate lower administrators, the candidate, and the committee of the unit which made the initial recommendation. Whether the candidate is to be informed is not clear for non-concurring recommendations. Since the candidate would be informed if the administrator concurred, the candidate would know that the administrator did not concur if s/he was not informed of the decision. Since the candidate would know the decision, it seems ridiculous not to communicate non-concurrence.

I99-11

2-10-99

Search Committee

Appendix D. Section IV.G.



A search committee may fulfill the responsibilities of reviewing applications, selecting candidates, interviewing candidates, and recommending one or more candidates for the position to the unit's Personnel Committee.

I98-10

10-8-98

Cumulative Review of Permanently Tenured Faculty

Appendix B. Section II.




 If the unit has elected "block review" (all tenured faculty in the unit will undergo cumulative review of permanently tenured faculty (CRPTF) this year and every five years hereafter), all faculty who are currently tenured-regardless of the date tenure was awarded-should be reviewed this year. This applies to faculty who have been tenured less than five years or who were promoted less than five years ago also. If the unit has elected "serial review" (some tenured faculty will be reviewed each year, beginning this year), all faculty who are currently tenured-regardless of the date tenure was awarded-are placed in the pool from which the random selection is made of faculty for review each year. This means faculty who have been tenured less than five years or who were promoted less than five years ago are in the pool with faculty who have been tenured or promoted more than five years ago. The random selection of faculty for review this year will be drawn from this pool. For the first CRPTF cycle, faculty who have been tenured less than five years or who were promoted less than five years ago may then undergo cumulative review less than five years after their most recent personnel action review; however, in subsequent review periods, the policy about promotion review substituting for CRPTF may apply in the unit choosing serial review. The CRPTF cycle for faculty in these units who are tenured in the future will be every five years after the awarding of tenure.

I98-9

2-11-98

Voting Faculty

Appendix L. Section A.

In reference to Appendix L and the definition of a voting faculty member, "university officers" is defined as anyone with the title "Dean" and above.

I97-8

10-14-97

Formation of Promotion Committee

Appendix D. Section IV.A.2.

When a unit has fewer than three permanently tenured voting faculty members of sufficient rank and not holding administrative status, the next higher administrator above the unit level shall appoint permanently tenured faculty at the required rank from other units to increase the committee's membership to three, with at least two-thirds of the members being permanently tenured faculty. These appointments to the committee must be from one list of candidates selected by a vote of the permanently tenured and probationary-term faculty having rank at least equal to the candidate(s) being considered for promotion. The list forwarded to the next higher administrator by the faculty will contain at least twice the number of faculty members required to complete the membership of the committee. Before voting on the list to be forwarded to the next higher administrator, the voting faculty will ascertain that faculty members nominated to have their names placed on the list are willing and able to serve in this important capacity. The list of faculty names recommended to the next higher administrator may not be returned for revision.

I97-7

10-14-97

Formation of Tenure and Personnel Committees

Appendix D. Section IV.A.1. and Section IV.A.3.

When a unit has fewer than three permanently tenured voting faculty members not holding administrative status, the next higher administrator above the unit level shall appoint permanently tenured faculty from other units to increase the committee's membership to three. These appointments to the committee must be from one list of candidates selected by a vote of the permanently tenured and probationary-term faculty of the unit. The list forwarded to the next higher administrator by the appropriate faculty will contain at least twice the number of faculty members required to complete the membership of the committee. Before voting on the list to be forwarded to the next higher administrator, the voting faculty will ascertain that faculty members nominated to have their names placed on the list are willing and able to serve in this important capacity. The list of faculty names recommended to the next higher administrator may not be returned for revision.

I96-6

9-6-96

Voting Faculty

Appendix L. Section A.

In reference to Appendix L and the definition of a voting faculty member, the teaching/research requirement does not apply to unit administrators (i.e. chairs of departments in the College of Arts and Sciences and deans of units) and other university officers (i.e. chancellor, vice chancellor).

I96-5

3-13-96

Reduction of Faculty Probationary Term

Appendix D. Section II.C.

Appendix D states that "the normal probationary term for the professorial ranks, as established at the time of initial appointment, shall be...." This was intentional to remove ambiguity in previous versions of Appendix D. Thus, the promotion of an assistant professor to associate professor before the end of the probationary term has no effect on the original contractual probationary term. Of course, a faculty member could apply for early tenure following Section II.C.5.

I96-4

3-13-96

Off-Track Faculty Probationary Terms

Appendix D. Section II.C.

In order to afford the maximum opportunity for tenure, it is the position of the Faculty Governance Committee that the probationary term for personnel hired at the professorial ranks, whose contract date occurs earlier than the beginning of the Fall semester, will be measured from the beginning of the subsequent Fall semester. Of course, a faculty member could apply for early tenure following Section II.C.5.

I94-3

2-23-94

Voting Eligibility

Appendix L. Section A

Any voting faculty member has voting privileges for departmental issues except those specifically excluded by any portion of the unit code or the Faculty Manual (i.e. some personnel decisions, recommendations on code content, quadrennial evaluations). Section 604C of the UNC Code defines visiting faculty as a "special" faculty appointment, thus making any visiting faculty member ineligible to vote on excluded issues as described above, but eligible to vote on departmental issues not excluded by a unit code or Faculty Manual statement.

I93-2

3-30-93

Faculty Officers

Appendix A. Section VII.

Officers of the Faculty, who are not members of the Faculty Senate will not have vote, count toward a quorum, or vote and occupy a seat assigned to a Faculty Senator.

I90-1

2-15-90

Personnel Files

Appendix C. Section VI.

A faculty member who willfully discloses confidential information from a personnel file or allows another to disclose such information has violated State law and University regulations and may be disciplined under University regulations. An individual faculty member such as a department chair of chair of a personnel committee who knows of a faculty member's public disclosure of confidential information but does not act has neglected his or her duties and may also be disciplined in accordance with Appendix D. The Statues clearly define confidential information. G.S. 126-23 provides that an employee's "name, age, date of original employment or appointment to the State service, current position, title, current salary, date and amount of most recent increase or decrease in salary, date of recent promotion, demotion, transfer, suspension, separation, or other change in position classification, and the official station to which the employee is currently assigned" are matters of public record.