Policies of Academic Freedom and Tenure

The University of North Carolina Wilmington

Approved by the Board of Governors of The University of North Carolina - May 14, 1976, effective June 11, 1976; revisions approved July 20, 1979, effective July 20, 1979; revisions approved May 10, 1982, effective July 1, 1982; revisions approved November 11, 1994, effective December 9, 1995; revisions approved January 2001, effective July 1, 2001; revisions approved August 2007, effective August 2007; revisions approved October 2009.

This document sets forth the official policy of The University of North Carolina Wilmington regarding academic freedom, rights, and responsibilities, promotion, and tenure of its faculty. Fundamental in this policy are the concepts of academic freedom, rights, and responsibilities as stated in Chapter VI of the Code of The University of North Carolina. Equally fundamental is an explicit policy of promotion and tenure.

1. Freedom and responsibility in the university community
2. Academic freedom and responsibility of faculty
3. Academic tenure
4. Policies on appointment, promotion, and tenure
5. Mediation of faculty grievances
6. Non-reappointment hearings procedure
7. Faculty committee to hear grievances
8. Policies regarding cessation of university employment
9. Termination of faculty employment
10. Retirement
11. Policy on leave
12. Implementation

Section VII. Faculty Committee to Hear Grievances

1. The Faculty Professional Relations Committee shall serve as the grievance committee provided for in Section 607 of the Code. This committee shall be elected by the faculty with members elected from each professorial rank as provided in the Bylaws of the Faculty Senate. No officer of administration shall serve on the committee. For purposes of this section, officer of administration shall be deemed to include department chairpersons.
2. The committee shall be authorized to hear, mediate, and advise with respect to the adjustment of grievances of members of the faculty including those of "special faculty member's as that term is defined in Section 610 of the Code. The power of the committee shall be solely to hear representations by the persons directly involved in a grievance, to mediate voluntary adjustment by the parties, and to advise adjustment by the administration when appropriate. Advice for adjustment in favor of an aggrieved faculty member may be given to the Chancellor only after the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, the appropriate dean, department chairperson, or other administrative official most directly empowered to adjust it has been given similar advice and has not acted upon it within a reasonable time.
3. "Grievances" within the province of the committee's power shall include matters directly related to a faculty member's employment status and institutional relationships within the constituent institution, including matters related to post-tenure review. However, no grievance that grows out of or involves matters related to a formal proceeding for the suspension, discharge, or termination of a faculty member, or that is within the jurisdiction of another standing faculty committee, may be considered by the committee.
4. If any faculty member feels that he/she has a grievance, he/she may petition the Faculty Professional Relations Committee for redress. The petition shall be written and shall set forth in detail the nature of the grievance and against whom the grievance is directed. The petition shall contain any information that the petitioner considers pertinent to his/her case. The committee shall decide whether the facts merit a detailed investigation so that submission of a petition shall not result automatically in an investigation or detailed consideration of the petition.