Article 8: Relation of Board and the University Faculty, Staff, and Employees

Regular Faculty Appointments. Appointments to the regular faculty, the salaries, tenure, leaves of absence, and changes of status, therefore, shall be approved by the board upon the recommendation of the president.

Employee Relations. The board is committed to the objectives of diversity and inclusion and to the principles of equal opportunity, non-discrimination, and affirmative action as reflected in various federal and state laws, orders, and regulations, as well as in various University policies and regulations, and will treat its employees in a non-discriminatory manner in accordance with the law and its own internal policies and regulations. The board will permit deduction of union dues from wages upon written request submitted by employees of the University.

It is the policy of the board that the president shall develop a framework structured along the fundamentals of basic due process, for the hearing and resolving of important, significant, and serious employee complaints.

Outside Employment. A full-time member of the faculty or staff may not be employed for remuneration by agencies other than the University except under the established rules of the board and with the approval of the appropriate University authorities. In all cases there shall be no conflict of interest between the activity of the faculty or staff member and the University function. Any proceeds realized from such activity may be proportioned between the University and the faculty member where institutional time and/or facilities are involved.

Rights and Responsibilities of the Faculty. The board, the administration, and the faculty carry out their respective responsibilities not as isolated entities, but as major and primary constituents of a total University organization and structure which remain mutually interdependent and must be supportive of each other’s purposes, functions, and obligations. It is within this context that the rights and responsibilities of the faculty are to be construed.

The constitutional authority lodged in the board for the administration of the University makes possible the creation of an organizational autonomy to protect faculty in the exercise of the rights of academic freedom, the most treasured values of the academic community. Upon these rights rest the unfettered pursuit and transmission of truth by the faculty who serve as the guardians, interpreters, and transmitters of a great intellectual heritage; the further enrichment of this heritage constitutes both obligation and aspiration of the academic profession.

Responsibilities adhere to rights of academic freedom with which they are closely interwoven and at times indistinguishable. They exist for faculty as members of a department or other academic unit, as members of a college, as members of the University, and as members of professional societies with which the respective disciplines are associated. Exercise of rights of academic freedom entails the restraints of intellectual integrity and of responsible action to safeguard its exercise against abuse, disrespect, or destruction. It entails tolerance for freedom of expression by others and full deliberation of issues and problems; it entails forthrightness in recognizing and in indicating when one speaks professionally as a scholar in a field of special competence and when one speaks as a private citizen; it entails mindfulness that membership in the academic community unquestionably involves identification and association with the University and that the University is judged by the actions, performance, good taste, and expressions of its faculty.

Rights and responsibilities of faculty include the transmission and creation of knowledge, the cultivation in the student of the highest reaches of the mind and a capacity for abstract reasoning, the cultivation of a vigorous and continuing pursuit of an understanding of the universe and the encouragement of introspection of society's relation to it. To awaken in students penetrating questions on a fully examined life, on the morality inherent in the choice of values and on finding a meaningful and responsible relation to society calls for the finest talents of the faculty as teachers, scholars, and counselors. Talents and dedication of faculty are also asked for understanding and appreciation of the mores and standards by which a society seeks to sustain itself and for exploration of how, through personal example and intellectual effort, both students and faculty may assist humankind to fulfill its noblest aspirations and highest potential.

Innovation, planning, and the rendering of many recommendations and decisions required for the effective functioning of departments, colleges, and the University as a whole represent further necessary faculty contributions. The institution looks to the faculty for recommendations on faculty recruitment, promotions, and tenure; on the development of new academic programs and modification or discontinuance of old; on academic standards for admission to the several teaching and research programs; and on the articulation of needs and requirements for space, equipment, and personnel.

Contributions assumed traditionally by faculty also include the cultivation of an exciting intellectual life; the preparation of professional competencies; evaluation of a student's academic performance; active participation in professional meetings; the determination of membership in the respective academic profession; and the development of teaching and research programs in many fields of knowledge of concern to the University, including the pursuit of advances in the arts and letters, the physical and biological sciences, government, and social and economic behavior.

The primacy of the faculty's role, functions, and responsibilities and its essentiality are further reflected in participation in the governing entities established for the several levels of faculty organization, in serving as needed on department, college, and University committees, and in rendering indispensable services associated with the University's many commitments and requirements within the academic community, within the state, the nation, and the world. The core of the University's purpose, its intellectual content and integrity, is expressed by the faculty.

In concert with the administration and accountable through the president to the board, the faculty are responsible for the continuous development of a University dedicated to the highest academic goals and responsive to the needs of society.

Nothing in these bylaws, or regulations issued pursuant thereto, shall prevent the board taking prompt action on urgent financial and personnel matters necessary to the best interests of the University.