During their December 9 meeting, the Board of Trustees considered a proposed amendment to the Faculty Senate constitution. The amendment as proposed by the Faculty Senate would grant voting membership to clinical professors. The Board of Trustees unanimously rejected the proposal, and, in the alternate, unanimously defined the “Faculty of Rensselaer” to include only active tenure and tenure-track faculty.
Currently, the Faculty Senate constitution defines “faculty” as “persons having the title Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Research Professor, Research Associate Professor, Research Assistant Professor, Librarian, Archivist and Assistant Archivist, and also includes those retired from these positions.” Under the new definition, only professors, associate professors, and assistant professors, as tenure and tenure-tracked faculty, would be considered the “Faculty of Rensselaer.” Retired faculty would be excluded from this definition.
According to Acting Provost Robert Palazzo, research professors take part in research at the institute, whereas a clinical professor’s main role is in teaching. Neither of these nor librarians are tenure-tracked or can receive tenure. A professor, however, is tenured or tenure-tracked and contributes to both research and teaching.
As one clinical professor noted, the current definition of faculty includes research professors and librarians, but omits clinical professors in what some faculty members feel was an oversight in the constitution’s language. The proposed definition would have brought equity to clinical professors, placing them on par with the rest of the professoriate.
Palazzo stated that stewardship was central in the issue defining faculty. He said that the core mission of the Institute is “scholarship through teaching and the pursuit of knowledge through research.” “Only tenure and tenure-tracked faculty have gone through the rigorous process of obtaining that privilege, and with that privilege comes responsibility,” he said. “[Tenure/tenure-tracked] faculty are the faculty that the Trustees have a relationship with.” Tenure must be approved by the Board of Trustees.
According to Palazzo, clinical professors are only hired on contract and research professors are hired after a review, but neither hiring process is as competitive or rigorous as that for a professor. “This definition doesn’t mean those groups aren’t faculty,” Palazzo said. “There will be no loss of rights or privileges, and there will be no change in the Institute’s commitment to them.” The new definition will only affect matters of communication between the Board of Trustees and the Faculty. Palazzo said that these communications should “go through a method of vetting by tenure and tenure-track faculty,” while matters of self-governance of the faculty would remain up to the Faculty Senate.
In a December 11 memo from President Shirley Ann Jackson to Palazzo that was forwarded to Jim Napolitano, president of the Faculty Senate, Jackson stated, “It is appropriate, as Rensselaer makes a step change in how it positions itself in the arena of world-class research universities, that it should take this opportunity to clearly define the roles of the various constituent groups within its professional teaching and research community.” The memo acknowledged the “continuous contributions to the intellectual vibrancy of Rensselaer” by clinical and research professors and librarians. The memo further acknowledged that “although they have no official role in faculty governance, Rensselaer may call upon retired members of the community for their advice and wisdom.”
On the Trustees’ definition of the “Faculty of Rensselaer,” Edward Woodhouse, professor and School of Humanities and Social Sciences senator, said, “It is another indication of how badly out of touch the administration is with the faculty.” The proposed amendment passed the Faculty Senate vote by an overwhelming majority. An October 4 motion passed by the Faculty Senate requested “that the Board of Trustees endorse the amendment … that was passed with an 88 percent majority of the faculty.”
Napolitano was unavailable for comment but said by e-mail, “the Board’s recommendation caught us by surprise, and we are still working on how to respond to it.”
Palazzo addressed worry that the amendment would encourage more clinical professors and encroach upon tenure-track faculty, impacting the culture, saying, “The core of the Institute mission falls apart if everyone is on contract. We want to avoid the commoditization of the professoriate.” At the same October 4 meeting of the Faculty Senate, Palazzo confirmed that there is no policy to substitute clinical faculty for tenure-track faculty.
