All is well between the University Senate, the Syracuse University administration and the Board of Trustees regarding promotion and tenure policies.

In an address to the Senate at Wednesday’s meeting, Interim Provost Elizabeth Liddy said the Board of Trustees had come to understand the Senate’s repeated requests for transparency in its role in promotion and tenure decisions. The resolution follows more than a year of deliberation and contentious debate among senators, trustees and administrators.

The meeting also included an address from Chancellor Kent Syverud about the NCAA report and recent news of men’s basketball head coach Jim Boeheim’s plans to retire, as well as Director of Athletics Daryl Gross stepping down. As part of the agenda committee’s report, Senate Moderator Can Isik said the chancellor’s report and provost’s report will become regular agenda items moving forward.

In 2013, the Board of Trustees conveyed to then-Chancellor Nancy Cantor that the university should review its promotion policies. The Senate was given one year to comb through an extensive history of university-wide promotions and to create an initiative that would improve SU’s promotion process.

The Senate voted to create a committee of tenured faculty to review appeals for promotions, which the Board of Trustees overruled, deciding that all cases of promotion be handled by then-Provost Eric Spina. Since then, the Senate has worked with the Board of Trustees and Liddy to form a task force of faculty members to work with the provost in promotion decision-making.

Three senators met with several Board of Trustees members two weeks ago to talk about increasing transparency in discussions of promotion and tenure policies, Liddy said during the Senate meeting. Overall, she said the meeting was a constructive step in ensuring that the Faculty Advisory Group is formed in a way that is agreeable for both sides.

Currently, Liddy said a Senate committee is finalizing who will be on the advisory group and how it will function. Kal Alston, a professor in the School of Education and former chief human resources officer, will lead the group with Liddy, she said.

Ian McInnes, who is co-chair of the Senate Academic Affairs committee and is also a former Senate moderator, said Chairman of the Board of Trustees Richard Thompson was accommodating in both scheduling and handling the meeting. He added that the advisory group will include faculty from a variety of disciplines.

By the end of the meeting, Liddy said both the trustees and faculty members walked away with a greater understanding of where each of them stand.

“We really want the best for the university,” Liddy said. “So we don’t want to have that controversy — let’s work together.”

Other business discussed:

— The Senate was also expected to hear reports from the research and women’s concerns committees, but due to the length of a closed session on a report from the committee on honorary degrees, both items were pushed back to the next Senate meeting.

Published on March 18, 2015 at 10:40 pm

Contact Annie: apalme05@syr.edu