The Proposed Tenure Pause Policy was developed by the Senate’s AFPSF Committee, the University Counsel, and the Provost office. The point of the policy is to provide a framework for handling misconduct allegations should they arise just before or during a tenure review. No such policy exists which creates unacceptable risks for both the candidate and the University. This 4/15 Senate Powerpoint provides a quick overview.  Here is how it would work. A Pause Panel (Chair + Dean + Provost + DoF) reviews the allegations and determines if they are sufficiently credible and relevant to the tenure case.  If they are, then the review is paused until the misconduct case is adjudicated under the auspices of the relevant Cornell Policy, e.g., 1.2, 6.3, 6.4.  If the candidate is found “not responsible”, then the tenure review is resumed at the pause point with references to the allegations disallowed. If the candidate is found to be responsible, then the Pause Panel produces a privacy-preserving summary of the misconduct case. The summary is placed in the dossier and the review restarts at the department level. Concerns about the policy were addressed at the 4/29 Senate. Minor revisions were described and closing arguments made at the 5/13 Senate

Whereas it is necessary to have a clear and fair procedure for handling the tenure review process in the presence of ongoing or completed misconduct investigations;

Be it resolved that this proposed policy be added to the Faculty Handbook section on tenure.