WHEREAS Article XVI(2)(c) of the Bylaws of Cornell University sets the maximum period of time in service for assistant professors before the university must grant tenure or terminate employment:

Assistant Professor – shall be appointed by the President for a term not to exceed four years. The maximum period of service for assistant professors with term appointment shall be six academic years of full-time equivalent service, continued only for reasons which, in the judgment of the President, are temporary.

WHEREAS the Johnson Graduate School of Management in 2011, via Senate Resolution 86, extended the maximum appointment for its assistant professors from six years to eight years of full-time equivalent service,

WHEREAS faculty in the Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration and in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, which make up the SC Johnson College of Business alongside the Johnson Graduate School of Management, are hired from the same job markets and evaluated by the same standards,

WHEREAS the majority of the other business schools and universities with which the SC Johnson College of Business competes for assistant professors have longer terms of service before the decision to grant tenure or terminate employment is made,

WHEREAS the SC Johnson College is significantly hampered in its recruitment and retention of promising assistant professors by being at a competitive disadvantage with regard to the maximum period of service before tenure decisions must be reached,

WHEREAS following discussions with deans from other Cornell units, the Provost supports the motion in a desire to harmonize the different Schools within the SC Johnson College to a similar set of tenure and promotion standards and time frames,

WHEREAS the Committee on the Academic Freedom and Professional Status of the Faculty have reviewed the request and unanimously agreed to support the motion,

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate support a motion to be presented by the Provost to the University Trustees to amend the Bylaws of the University to incorporate an extension of the maximum appointment for assistant professors at the SC Johnson College of Business from six years to eight years of full-time equivalent service.

Vote results:

84 Yes, 15 No, 12 Abstain 19 Did not vote