Process for Granting Tenure at the Time of Hire February 5, 2010

Background: When recruiting and hiring to an advanced faculty rank such as full professor or a distinguished endowed chair, candidates usually have tenure at the institution they are coming from. When this happens, the ability to grant tenure at the time of hire to W&L is usually critical to their acceptance of our offer in a timeframe that cannot wait for the next Trustee meeting. Therefore, we need a protocol for dealing with these cases without violating the By-Law which states that only the Trustees can grant tenure.

Proposed Principle: The Executive Committee should be convened by email to vote on tenure with hire in such cases.

Protocol:

I. In reaching an agreement with the candidate for hire, the Dean in consultation with the Provost must state: "with tenure subject to Trustee approval" until such time as step 2 is completed.

2. As soon as possible after an oral agreement is reached, the candidate's credentials will be circulated by email to members of the Executive Committee of the Trustees with a recommendation from the Dean, Provost and President that tenure be granted at the time of hire.

3. The Trustee committee will vote by reply email. If the vote is positive and unanimous, the candidate can be informed in writing that tenure with hire has been approved.

4. The Executive Committee's approval of tenure between regular Board meetings will be on the agenda as an action item for ratification at the next regularly scheduled meetings of the UAA or Law Committees for appointments to the undergraduate or law faculties respectively.