AF.07.02
April 30, 2007

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN SENATE
Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure
(Final;Information)

AF.07.02    2006-2007 Annual Report

The Senate Bylaws provide for a standing Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (AFT), whose investigative duties include possible infringement of academic freedom, and allegations of violations of the role of faculty in governanceas specifiedin the University Statutes and unit bylaws.

As appropriate, the Committee shall conduct hearings, and shall submit recommendations and reports to the Chancellor and the Senate.  The following is a summary of issues considered by the Committee during the 2006-2007 academic year.

Promotion and Tenure Questionnaires.  Annually since 1981, AFT has received for examination the Promotions and Tenure (P&T) Questionnaires from the Office of the Provost.  Recently, the Provost’s Office asked the Committee to consider if academic units needed to continue to submit their P&T procedures each year.  AFT recommended that a complete database (including each campus academic unit) of P&T procedures be assembled and posted on a website administered by the Provost’s Office.  Once this is established, units only need to update their procedures when changes have been made to these procedures.

Inquiries.  The Committee received a couple of faculty inquiries during this academic year involving concerns about the faculty role in governance in a small department. The appropriate administrators have resolved to address those problems, and AFT will revisit the situation next year.

Faculty should be aware that the AFT Committee is available for informal consulting at any time.

Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure
Elizabeth Delacruz, Chair
Clifton Brown
Karen Ferneding
Harry Hilton
Peter Loeb
Lynne Rudasill
Patrick Weatherhead
Jason Webber
Wen-Hua Yang
John Yu