Process for Matters Involving a Sitting Faculty Member
- Honorific naming of university programs, professorships, or facilities for sitting faculty members will be strongly discouraged university-wide. Removal of honorific naming of sitting faculty members will be considered a sanction under other university and divisional disciplinary processes.
- Should the Name Review Board (NRB) receive a submission involving the academic or professional work of a sitting faculty member, the matter will be referred to the Provost for guidance on the applicability of academic freedom and/or preemption by faculty disciplinary processes. Should the Provost receive a request or proposed sanction of renaming from a division, rather than through the NRB submission process, notice will be given to the NRB Executive Committee.
- Upon receipt of a submission or complaint involving a sitting member of faculty from the NRB, the Provost will in turn refer the matter to the appropriate dean and requests analysis and consideration under the school’s faculty disciplinary processes, informed by the university’s Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom. In parallel, an email will be sent to the NRB submitter notifying them of the referral to the division, and the faculty member will be notified of the referral.
- The dean will then follow the established practices and procedures of the school upon receipt of a potential allegation of faculty misconduct, which may include a preliminary assessment by the dean or an ad hoc committee appointed by the dean to determine whether the allegation states a case of misconduct and/or if protected by academic freedom, and thus whether there is a basis upon which to refer the matter for the initiation of faculty disciplinary procedures.
- Once the established practices and procedures are followed at the school level, the dean will report back to the Provost as to whether there is a basis for the initiation of faculty disciplinary procedures, and the reasoning behind the decision.
- The Provost then reports back to the NRB either that the matter has been referred for consideration under a divisional disciplinary and sanctioning process and/or that the matter has been found by division not to warrant further disciplinary proceedings (informed by faculty entitlements to Academic Freedom).
- Once the divisional review has occurred, the NRB will conclude the matter consistent with the divisional findings and notify the submitter of the outcome.
