Report of the Senate Committee on Appeals
Senate Agenda - EXHIBIT VI - October 16, 1998
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPEALS
Annual Report to Senate
1997-1998
The membership of the Committee for the 1997-98 membership year was:
Members:
D. Bentley (Chair), D. Allison (Vice-Chair), D. Baer, A. Oosterhoff, A. Pearson, R. Shivers, S. Tse.
Alternates:
J. Good, N. Huner*, H. Laschinger, L. Murison, C. Neable, M. Spence, M. J. Toswell
N. Huner resigned as of June 30, 1998. His seat will be filled in November 1998.
The Senate Committee on Appeals (SCA) heard one appeal in 1997-98. This was against the decision of a Dean
and a Faculty Promotion and Tenure Committee in a departmentalized Faculty not to recommend promotion to
the rank of Associate Professor. The appeal was denied.
In its statement of Reasons for Decision, the SCA affirmed three principles that it wishes to reiterate here:
- the deference of the SCA to the disciplinary standards
established and applied by a candidate's
department and/or faculty unless the SCA is persuaded that the department and/or faculty has held the candidate
to criteria that are unfair or unreasonable;
- the sole responsibility of the Faculty Committee for determining the
relative significance accorded
to performance in teaching and performance in research for the purposes of tenure and/or promotion; and
- the dispensability of neither performance in teaching nor performance
in research and scholarly
activity for purposes of tenure and/or promotion.
These principles are based on a judicious and holistic reading of sections B.2 and B.3 of Conditions of
Appointment, which state:
- that "[p]romotion and the granting of tenure by the University shall
be on the basis of the record of
performance established by the candidate in teaching, in research, in scholarly activities and in other
contributions";
- that the candidate's "performance shall be considered with reference
to the national and international
standards within the candidate's discipline";
- that "[e]ach candidate for promotion and/or the granting of tenure
is expected to establish a record
of performance" in "teaching and associated activities," in "research...scholarly activity, and...where
appropriate,...the fine and performing arts" and in "general contributions to the University, the academic
profession, and the community"; and
- that, although "the significance accorded" to performance in teaching
and performance in research
"relative to each other should be approximately equal and individually greater than that for" general contributions,
the "relative significance" of performance in teaching and performance in research "may be determined by the
Faculty Committee on Promotion and Tenure as long as neither...is excluded."
The final sentence of Section B.3(a) -- "[a]n outstanding individual record of performance in either [teaching]
or [research and scholarly activity] may be sufficient reason for promotion and/or the conferring of tenure" --
should not be read as sanctioning the dispensability of either performance in teaching or performance in research
and scholarly activity in considerations of tenure and/or promotion, for the context in which the sentence occurs
clearly establishes performance in both teaching and research and scholarly activity as the standard for tenure
and/or promotion and prevents the exclusion of either the one or the other from consideration.
The SCA would also like to reiterate here the working definition of "performance in scholarly activity" that was
articulated in the Committee's 1994-95 Report to Senate:
The words "performance in scholarly activity" in B.2(b) of Conditions of Appointment refer to
the accepted conception and definition of scholarship in the University context -- namely,
scholarship is research of such quality and creativity as to lead to the advancement or extension
of knowledge and thus to achieve publication in peer-reviewed journals, books and other fora,
including peer-reviewed conferences and proceedings. Scholarship of this calibre frequently, but
not necessarily, flows from and results in competitive, peer-reviewed grants from agencies like
MRC, NSERC, and SSHRC. Thus defined, scholarship is distinct from the transmission of
existing information or knowledge through teaching, training, consulting, and technical reporting,
as well as from pedagogical activities such as course and curriculum development. The latter
activities are within the parameters of B.2(a). It is also distinct from "performance in general
contributions to the University, the academic profession, and the community", the subject matter
of B.2(c).
Signed by:
D. M. R. Bentley
Chair, Senate Committee on Appeals