Clarification of Terms

N. B. This is a clarification regarding the uses of the terms "reconsideration" and "appeal" in the Guidelines.

1. REGARDING PROMOTION. The Guidelines use different terms to refer to phases of the review process for promotion in which a candidate (and sometimes others) may seek a second recommendation after an initial adverse or negative recommendation.

A. A candidate may "request reconsideration" of an initial adverse recommendation by unit faculty, a chair or director, the A&S Executive Committee, the Dean, the SVCAA, or the Chancellor.

B. A candidate (and others) "has a right to appeal" after the review process terminates when

1) the College Executive Committee and the Dean concur in an adverse recommendation, or

2) one of the reviewing parties and the SVCAA concur in an adverse recommendation.

(The Guidelines refer to concurring recommendations against promotion, not to concurring reasons for negative recommendations against promotion.)

Whether one term or the other is used is a function of whether a review is in process. A "reconsideration" is requested during the course of a review to change an initial adverse recommendation before it is transmitted to the next level of consideration. A candidate has "a right to appeal" after the review process terminates when either of the conditions noted in "B" above occur. In effect,

A. a candidate has four opportunities to request a reconsideration during a review in the College (to unit faculty, a chair/director, the A&S Executive Committee, and the Dean) and one reconsideration each from the SVCAA and from the Chancellor.

B. when the process terminates, a candidate has additional recourse by initiating an appeal to the SVCAA or to the Chancellor.

II. REGARDING TENURE. Throughout the "Mandatory Procedures" section of the Guidelines regarding tenure, there is reference to a candidate's right to request reconsideration of initial adverse or negative recommendations in the review process. However, one part of the section (VI.D. ( 12)) refers to a candidate's right to "pursue an appeal" of the SVCAA's decision to the Chancellor. In the entire section on tenure procedures, this is the only use of the word "appeal." Even when the candidate's right to seek a second and favorable recommendation from the Chancellor is discussed, the Guidelines indicate that the candidate has the right to "request reconsideration."

Given that the tenure procedures section of the Guidelines uses "appeal" just once and that it uses it and the phrase "request reconsideration" with reference to second decisions from the same official (i.e., the Chancellor), the terms are considered synonymous, interchangeable, and without substantive or procedural implications.