SPECIAL PROVISIONS OF APPOINTMENT
a. Associate Appointment
i. Purpose
Appointment with associate status is designed to allow particular individuals to reduce their teaching responsibilities at the College for limited periods without interrupting their normal employment. The reasons for requesting associate status may include, for example, the need to fulfill familial obligations, the wish to engage more fully in scholarly or artistic projects, or other forms of professional development, or the wish to reduce one's teaching obligations for a few years before retirement.
ii. Conditions
With the exception of colleagues nearing retirement (that is, those colleagues who have passed their 60th birthday), faculty on associate status are normally expected to be in residence at the College for the entire academic year and to fulfill normal advising and service responsibilities. Colleagues on associate status who have passed their 60th birthday by September 1 of the academic year in question are required to be in residence during either the fall or spring term. Other faculty members who wish to be excused from normal advising and service responsibilities must apply for a regular leave of absence through the Educational Affairs Committee.
(a) Requests for associate status for purposes of professional development will, if granted, be treated as leaves of absence. Handbook guidelines will govern the eligibility of colleagues granted associate status for future leaves of absence.
(b) Associate status may be requested for a maximum of three consecutive years and, normally, for no more than a total of six years during the period prior to the faculty member's 60th birthday. After the 60th birthday, faculty may remain on associate status for up to five years preceding retirement.
(c) Colleagues on associate status are expected to teach three instructional units, with two units taught in either the fall or spring term and one unit taught in Winter Term. If it is beneficial to the department or program curriculum, colleagues may be permitted to teach three instructional units solely in either the fall or spring term. Normally, a colleague who is on associate status will receive 5/9ths of his or her full-time salary.
(d) Colleagues on associate status will be eligible for travel and research support from the FPDF.
(e) Requests for associate status of whatever sort will be governed by a goal of maintaining from year to year, and over the years, an FTE ratio of 9:1. It should be understood that commitment to a multi-year associate status arrangement may affect the leave patterns of other full-time faculty, both within and beyond the department directly affected by the request.
iii. Appointment Procedures
A faculty member on regular appointment at any rank may request associate appointment for limited periods of time ranging from a year to a maximum of three years before resuming regular teaching responsibilities. Such requests will be made to the provost or his or her designate. The deadline for requesting associate appointment in any given academic year is September 1 of the year prior.
(a) Those requests that seek time off for purposes of professional development will be considered by the Educational Affairs Committee as requests for leave without pay. A letter from the department chair and the chairs of any affected programs must accompany each request. This letter should comment upon the proposal and present a strategy for replacing the colleague making the request. Time off or reduced teaching in order to complete a terminal degree shall not be considered professional development.
(b) Those requests that seek time off for purposes other than professional development will be considered by the provost, in consultation with the Promotions Committee, and a recommendation will be advanced by them to the president. A formal letter of appointment spelling out the agreed-upon arrangements will be sent by the president to the individual faculty member and the department chair. The Educational Affairs Committee will be consulted where staffing implications are involved. A letter from the department chair and the chair of any affected program must accompany each request. This letter should comment upon the proposal and present a strategy for replacing the colleague making the request.
(c) The president, after appropriate consultation with the faculty member's department, the Promotions Committee, and the Educational Affairs Committee, will decide on the request. If associate appointment is agreed to, a formal letter of understanding from the Office of the President or the Office of the Provost will set forth the conditions of the appointment. Instructors and assistant professors who move to associate appointment retain the term of appointment current at the time that change is granted. A faculty member who moves to associate appointment after the fourth year of appointment but prior to the review for tenure, and who subsequently fails to be given a tenured appointment, is normally not eligible for continuation as an assistant professor beyond the one-year terminal appointment stated in General Provisions 1.e.iv. Tenured faculty who move to associate appointment retain tenure and are reviewed on the normal schedule.
b. Release from Contractual Obligations
i. The contract of appointment of a member of the faculty of Middlebury College may not be terminated by the College prior to the expiration of the period of appointment except for adequate cause as specified in section c. below or under extraordinary circumstances because of serious financial emergency.
ii. The contract of appointment of a member of the faculty may be terminated if the faculty member himself or herself requests release. In order to receive consideration, the request must be presented in writing to the president, and it should call for an effective date coinciding with the concluding date of the academic year so as to avoid disruption of the work of the College. The request should be dispatched early enough to be in the president's hand no later than the July 1 preceding the effective date if the faculty member concerned is a professor or associate professor; no later than August 1 if he or she is an assistant professor or instructor or lecturer. Waiver of these dates may be granted by the president upon specific request in writing if, in his or her judgment, compliance with them would impose hardship upon the faculty member.
c. Termination of Appointment
i. Termination for Cause
Faculty on appointment for any term, including tenure, may have their appointment terminated prior to the terms of the appointment by special action of designated and appropriate College authorities for sufficient reason and according to the procedures outlined below.
Termination of tenure appointment for any reason may be undertaken only in the most exceptional circumstances and only for the most compelling reasons. Tenure is a primary protection for academic freedom and contributes to the stability necessary for the development of the College. At the same time, however, tenure is not simply a guarantee of life-time appointment to retirement. Specific serious offenses may result in termination for cause. A continued pattern of teaching performance which is judged to be below minimally acceptable standards may also result in termination. In all instances of a consideration of dismissal for cause, the faculty member shall be secure in his or her right to a fair and impartial hearing.
The Promotions Committee may review the appointment of any faculty member for cause at any time. Review for cause is initiated by recommendation of the provost to the president. Review for cause is undertaken only when termination of employment is contemplated.
The president, if he or she deems it advisable, may designate an individual other than the provost to carry out the functions of that office, as set forth below.
ii. Grounds for Termination for Cause
(a) Flagrant and deliberate violations of the rules and procedures of the Middlebury College faculty; persistent failure to carry out specified teaching assignments as these are determined by a department or by the Curriculum Committee of the College. Action cannot be taken under the latter clause against a faculty member whose academic directions have not changed but who is a member of a department which has undertaken new directions and therefore has developed new needs.
(b) Abuse of authority as a teacher; actions that intimidate others or constitute a "chilling effect" on the freedom of thought necessary in an academic community; behavior which fundamentally corrupts scholarship or teaching.
(c) Actions that are willfully destructive of College facilities; serious criminal behavior.
(d) Teaching ineffectiveness. (Procedures defined below in subsection iii.)
iii. Grounds for Termination for Teaching Ineffectiveness
Tenure cannot be an impregnable barrier against sanctions for general teaching performance that is judged by competent authorities to be below a minimally acceptable level for the College. The chairs of departments, and the provost all bear direct responsibility to take steps to correct seriously defective teaching. If a chair has reason to believe that a faculty member's teaching performance is seriously defective, the faculty member must be directly approached on this matter and be given a written statement outlining the problems. This statement will be prepared by the chair after appropriate consultation with other members of the faculty, professionals outside the College, current students, and alumni. The chair also will consult with the provost in all such matters and a copy of all correspondence with the faculty member will be filed in the Office of the Provost.
When there is reason to believe that a faculty member's teaching is seriously defective, the chair will not only advise the faculty member of this judgment, but will meet with him or her to see if a program can be developed which will correct the problems as perceived. The College will attempt to assist in this program.
If serious problems persist over a period of years and it is the judgment of the chair in consultation with appropriate colleagues that the faculty member has made no successful effort to correct the situation, he or she may recommend to the provost that action be initiated for termination for cause as set forth below in iv. (b)-(f). (In this instance, the provost cannot act without departmental recommendation.)
iv. Procedures in Termination for Cause
(a) When an allegation of severe professional misconduct has been made, the provost shall make a preliminary inquiry and shall discuss the matter with those administrative officers he or she deems appropriate. If the provost decides that an inquiry should be pursued, he or she shall then meet in confidence with the faculty member to discuss the alleged violation. The faculty member and the provost may each choose to invite a faculty adviser to attend these meetings. If the provost should determine that there is no basis for a formal review of contract, the matter shall then be dropped with no penalty to the faculty member.
(b) If, after these meetings, the provost concludes that the inquiry should be pursued, he or she shall recommend to the president a review for termination for cause. If the president chooses not to accept the recommendation, the matter shall be dropped without penalty to the faculty member. If the president accepts the recommendation, the matter shall be brought before the Promotions Committee. The president shall make available to the committee such information pertaining to the matter as he or she may possess and shall cooperate with the committee in any inquiries it may deem necessary. The provost shall attend all meetings of the committee relating to the case. He or she shall be kept fully informed of the committee's work and shall keep a record of it.
The committee shall see that the faculty member is promptly informed in writing both of the grounds upon which dismissal for cause is being considered and of the identity of the person or persons bringing the allegation. The faculty member shall be permitted to call upon a faculty adviser of his or her choice to assist him or her (or to act as counsel). The statement given the faculty member shall be framed with due concern for the rights of the parties involved. If the Promotions Committee formulates charges, the faculty member shall have an opportunity to confront witnesses against him or her. The faculty member also shall have the right of access to all records of testimony at the committee's proceedings.
(c) If the Promotions Committee determines that there is no adequate cause for termination of contract, the Promotions Committee may recommend to the president either that the case be dropped without penalty to the faculty member, or that a penalty less severe than dismissal be imposed. Should the Promotions Committee recommend that the case be dropped, the president may either accept the recommendation or ask the board to hold a hearing. If the Promotions Committee should recommend a penalty less severe than dismissal, the president may impose such a penalty and the faculty member may appeal the president's decision to the Board of Trustees.
If the committee determines that there appears to be adequate cause for termination of contract or dismissal, it shall advise the president to that effect. The president shall report the committee's findings, together with his or her own views, to the Board of Trustees. After consideration of the president's report, the board or its designated members shall review the record of the case. If the board determines that there appears to be no cause for termination of contract or dismissal, the case shall be dropped with no penalty to the faculty member; otherwise, the Board of Trustees shall initiate a hearing.
(d) Within seven days of the date when the Promotions Committee forwards its recommendation to the president, the president or, at his or her request, the provost will inform the faculty member in writing of the committee's recommendation and will communicate that recommendation in writing to the complaining individual or individuals. Furthermore, whenever the Promotions Committee has conducted a review for termination for cause, it shall, at the last faculty meeting of the semester in which the review has taken place, report to the voting members of the faculty: (1) the general category (according to Termination of Appointment ii. (a)-(d) above) of the allegations brought, and (2) whether the committee advised the president that there appeared to be adequate cause for termination of contract or dismissal. Such reports shall not divulge the names of the faculty member or of any individuals having participated in the review and shall be entered into the records of the faculty. If, during the course of the Promotions Committee's proceedings, the faculty member tenders his or her resignation and the committee therefore ends its review before reaching a determination, the termination of the review and the reason for the termination shall be reported to all individuals having participated in the review, and to the faculty, in the manner prescribed above.
(e) To conduct a hearing, the Board of Trustees shall establish a special Hearing Panel of not fewer than three persons from among its membership. In advance of the hearing, the faculty member shall be formally notified in writing of the specific charges against him or her. The faculty member shall be given full access to the Promotions Committee's proceedings in the case and shall be given fair opportunity to prepare and present his or her defense. He or she shall be permitted to call upon a member of the College community as an adviser. The provost shall keep a complete record of the hearing which may be examined by the persons involved.
(f) If the Board of Trustees finds that the faculty member has engaged in professional misconduct sufficiently severe to justify dismissal, or has been unable or unwilling to correct serious problems in teaching, it shall authorize the president to notify the faculty member that his or her resignation would be accepted. Should the faculty member choose not to resign, he or she shall be dismissed. A faculty member whose conduct has been found to warrant termination of contract or dismissal as a result of such a hearing by the Board of Trustees shall not be offered any subsequent teaching appointment at the College. But when the cause of termination involves any action involving deliberate or intentional harm to others (e.g., harassment), the faculty member shall be offered no subsequent employment of any kind at the College. If the board finds that the faculty member has not engaged in professional misconduct sufficiently severe to justify dismissal, the board shall either dismiss the case with no penalty to the faculty member or shall determine a penalty less severe than dismissal. The decision of the Board of Trustees is final.
(g) From the moment when the provost judges that an inquiry shall be undertaken until the time when the Board of Trustees reaches its finding, the faculty member, when charged with abuse of authority involving intentional or deliberate harm to others, may end these proceedings by resignation only if this resignation is to take effect immediately. In no instance, where the charge against a faculty member is abuse of authority involving deliberate or intentional harm to others, shall the College enter into an arrangement whereby the faculty member charged would agree to take early retirement or to resign effective after a certain period in exchange for the charges being dropped by the College.
v. Institutional Restrictions on Termination
Changes in status or termination may be undertaken only on the most serious grounds. These grounds must be specific and concrete. Considerations of political opinions, race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, or legally recognized forms of disability are absolutely prohibited, except to the extent that they affect teaching ability. Economic considerations relating to the individual's salary level, length of contract, etc., are positively excluded.