On November 30, the UW System Tenure Policy Task Force will meet to discuss draft policies on faculty layoff and post-tenure review. These draft policies contain a number of serious problems, failing to meet professional standards of due process and separating faculty from their primary responsibility for educational concerns. The draft policies thus fall short of the Board of Regents’ stated goal of crafting tenure and shared governance policies that conform to AAUP standards.

The problems with the draft policies are detailed in a memo from the UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, and UW-Whitewater chapters of the AAUP. Annotated versions of the draft policies on faculty layoff and post-tenure review themselves are also available.

We hope that the input of the UW System’s three AAUP chapters will help steer the Board of Regents toward policies that conform to AAUP standards.