The Faculty Senate
The Committee on Committees

The Faculty Affairs Committee

April 13, 1984

The Faculty Affairs Committee deeply regrets but feels it must register
its strong exception to the March 27, 1984, decision of the Faculty Senate to
refer to an ad hoc task force the issue of fixed-term faculty appointments.
The FAC is perturbed by the Senate's decision, for it believes that the
Senate's action was unwarranted and unwise. Furthermore, the FAC believes
that the Senate's decision constitutes an error of inestimable consequence
and, therefore, wishes to request that the Senate reconsider its decision.

By itsdecision, the Senate disfranchised one of its own appointed
committees and usurped that committee's clearly defined charge.

Unfortunately, this was not a singular incident. The FAC is deeply concerned
by what it perceives as a disturbing trend on the part of the Senate to
overlook the advice of its own committees and, also, to become a committee-of-
the-whole which attempts to redo work already done by committees. The impact
of this action has lowered and will continue to lower committee morale and
increase the reluctance of faculty to serve on committees.

Also, by its decision, the Senate chose to disregard a full year of
careful and exhaustive committee deliberation on the matter and to begin all
over again. The FAC is well aware of the importance and the complexities of
this issue; the sheer bulk of the report submitted by the Committee to justify

its conclusions and recommendations supports this awareness. The FAC believes

, hn it conducted itself in a reasonable manner. The committee gathered

 
evidence, deliberated upon the evidence, and drew conclusions which it #

considered to be valid and appropriate.

Few, if any, issues of greater importance have been brought before the
Senate. The FAC is convinced that there is no higher cause in the protection
of a university than the protection of the right of all faculty to work within
a climate of academic freedom protected by academic tenure. The
recommendation of the FAC to the Senate did not ask, contrary to an apparent
misconception on the part of some, for the implementation of a new policy or
understanding at East Carolina University. On the contrary, the
recommendation was a request that the Senate reaffirm pre-existing policy and
the Senate's commitment to the traditions of tenure and academic freedom by
clearly stating its position on the impropriety of appointing full-time
faculty to non-tenurable, non-probationary positions which are expected to be =
needed beyond six years.

Had the Senate approved the recommendation of the FAC, that
recommendation would have become the advice of the faculty to the
Administration. Advice is not to be confused with compulsion. If there is
sufficient reason, from an administrative viewpoint, the administration is
free to exercise its due responsibilities and to make exceptions to the advice
of the faculty. In the FAC opinion, it is, then, unreasonable for the Senate
to expect that any committee can come to it with the guarantee that its
recommendations are for all times and seasons in perpetuity or that a general
and overarching policy can anticipate each and every detail. If exceptions
must be made, the responsibility for those special exceptions should lie with

the administration. The faculty's voice on the matters of academic freedom

and tenure should be unequivocal and clear.

 
a The FAC believes that the recommendation to the Senate was specific and

unmistakable in its intent. It is the unqualified opinion of the FAC that
the Senate, by referring the issue of fixed-term appointments to an ad hoc
task force for renewed study, (1) refused to take a position on one of the
most important issues that the Senate has ever faced, thereby losing an
opportunity to reaffirm the values of academic freedom and tenure, and (2)
undermined its own committee system.

The FAC feels that the Senate erred in its decision of March 27, 1984.
The very least the Senate could have done was to re-refer the issue to the
FAC. At its very best, the Senate could have supported the original FAC
recommendation and gone on record reaffirming the tenets of academic freedom
and tenure. The FAC, therefore, respectfully requests that the Senate

reconsider its decision of March 27.