Passed: September 4, 2002

Sponsor: University Faculty Senate

Senate Discussions: September 2002

Enabling Legislation for the Clinical Professor Title PDF

1. Preamble

   The current range of available academic titles does not meet the needs of various Colleges at Cornell that stand to benefit considerably from the creation of a new, primarily single-function, non-tenure-track Clinical Professor title. These Colleges are currently experiencing difficulty both in recruiting and retaining faculty members who might bear such a title since, unlike many of their peer institutions, they have only the title of Lecturer or Senior Lecturer available. In addition, there are currently individuals in Lecturer positions who are, in effect, carrying out the functions of Clinical Professors without suitable acknowledgment of their status, qualifications, and activities or opportunity for career development.

   Whereas an inadequacy in the current range of available academic titles makes it desirable to create a new non-tenure-track Clinical Professorial Title, and
   Whereas it is clearly important to recognize and reward the status, qualifications, and activities of those faculty members for whom such a title would be appropriate, and
   Whereas units need to improve recruitment and retention of such faculty-members, and
   Whereas, where appropriate and possible, units should be able to reclassify competitive candidates who are currently doing such work de facto, while employed as Lecturers or Senior Lecturers,

   BE IT RESOLVED THAT THIS ENABLING LEGISLATION BE ADOPTED.

2. Purpose of Enabling Legislation

   The purpose of this legislation is to enable individual colleges and schools, in accordance with the process and requirements described below, to use the title of Clinical Professor in reference to a limited and defined group of long-term, non-tenure-track appointments. This title will be available for use at the Assistant, Associate and Full Clinical Professor rank.

3. Limited Availability of Clinical Professor Title.

   The title of Clinical Professor is available only for long term, non-tenure-track faculty who serve an essential teaching function in a clinical setting. While faculty of this rank may, depending on specific requirements of the college or school, have additional research, service, or outreach obligations, teaching will be their primary responsibility. The title may not be used for positions whose responsibilities largely replicate those of tenure-track faculty. Similarly, the title is not meant as a wholesale replacement for the titles of faculty now employed as Lecturers or Senior Lecturers.

4. Proposal Process

   A college that wishes to use the title of Clinical Professor must take the following steps:
   A. Sponsors must prepare a written proposal for use of the title in accordance with the requirements of sections V and VI, below.
   B. The proposal must be approved by at least two-thirds of those voting, in person or by ballot, in each of two separate votes, of tenure-track and of non-tenure-track faculty of the originating college or school (as defined under Article XIII of the University Bylaws), respectively. Further, for the proposal to be approved, at least half of all those faculty members eligible to vote in each case must vote for it.
   C. A proposal so approved will come before the University Committee on Academic Policies and Procedures (CAPP) for review of its conformity to the requirements of section V and VI, below. After submission to CAPP, such a proposal will be distributed to University faculty and distributed to or electronically posted for other interested parties for a period of 60 days before action by CAPP in order to invite public comment.
   D. At the end of the comment period, CAPP shall review the proposal in order to determine whether it complies with the requirements of this enabling legislation. In conducting such a review, the committee is not to substitute its judgment for that of the originating college or school as to the need for or wisdom of the college’s or school’s adoption of the Clinical Professor title.
   E. If CAPP determines that the proposal meets the requirements of this enabling legislation, it will report the proposal to the Senate, which will approve or deny the proposal by a majority vote based on the Senate’s determination of whether the proposal complies with the requirements of this legislation. If CAPP determines that the proposal fails to meet the requirements of this legislation, it shall furnish a written explanation of this determination to the college or school submitting the proposal.

5. Proposal Contents

   The written proposal of a college or school that seeks to use the title of Clinical Professor must include the following provisions.

   A. Justification. A proposal for adoption of the Clinical Professor title shall include a statement offering justification for adoption of the title within the originating college or school and explaining why existing titles for non-tenure-track faculty are insufficient for staffing and recruitment. The practices of peer schools and the impact of available titles on recruitment efforts may be of particular relevance in this regard.

   B. Description of Position. The proposal shall describe as precisely as possible the functions and responsibilities of positions bearing the title and the anticipated distribution of such positions within the college or school.

   C. Terms of Appointment. The proposal shall include a summary of the terms on which candidates will be appointed and reappointed to such positions and promoted from one to another. These terms should include: the nature of the search by which applications will be elicited; the credentials required by holders of these positions; the levels (department, college, university) at which approval for individual appointments is necessary; the length of appointments; the possibilities open to appointees for movement between nontenure-track and tenure-track paths; and procedures for renewal and promotion open to appointees.

   D. Percentage Limitation. The proposal shall include a statement restricting the creation of positions in the proposed titles to a certain percentage of the tenure-track faculty of the originating college and of the tenure-track faculty in those departments or programs where those positions are located.

   E. Voting and Other Rights. The proposal shall define the rights and responsibilities of appointees in the proposed titles, including their voting status in their departments and colleges or schools, and their access to grievance and appeals processes available to tenure-track faculty.

   F. Impact Statement. The proposal shall contain an appraisal of the impact of creating the new positions on existing tenure-track and non-tenure-track academic titles and their holders. This appraisal should indicate whether and in what ways current holders of nontenure-track titles will be eligible for appointment to the new positions and whether their current positions will be protected against elimination by the new positions.

6. Additional Restrictions on the Use of the Clinical Professor Title.

   In addition to satisfying the provisions of section V, all proposals for the use of such titles must satisfy the following requirements:

   A. The functions of positions bearing Clinical Professorial titles may not replicate the full array of functions (e.g. teaching and research and service or outreach) served by tenure-track positions in the originating college or school. Proposals must indicate how the functions of positions as defined will differ from regular tenure-track positions.

   B. Terms of positions bearing these titles shall normally be for three to five years and shall not exceed five years. Unless otherwise specified, they shall be renewable indefinitely. Holders of these titles whose appointments are not renewed must receive a full year’s appointment from date of notice of non-renewal.

   C. Procedures for review, renewal and promotion of holders of these titles shall be comparable in rigor to those in tenure-bearing positions. Appointment of faculty of this rank shall normally be the result of a national search.

   D. The percentage of positions bearing the titles may not exceed 25% of the existing tenure-track faculty positions in the college or 25% of the tenure-track positions in those departments or programs where those positions are located.

   E. Except by appointment of the holder to a new position bearing one of these titles or by resignation of the holder, no non-tenure-track faculty position may be eliminated solely as a result of creating such a new position for a function comparable to that filled by the old position.

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT

7. Committee to Investigate the Status of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty

   A. The Faculty Senate directs the Dean of the Faculty to appoint a Task Force or task forces to investigate the status and conditions of employment of non-tenure-track faculty including their terms of employment, particularly job security, rights to academic freedom, access to appropriate grievance and appeals procedures, eligibility for sabbatic leave, eligibility for emeritus/a status, and voting rights.
   B. The Senate is mindful that the Dean of the Faculty may determine that the present Task Force on Professorial Titles should continue to work on the issue of titles.
   C. Any body or bodies appointed to study these issues will report to the Senate on the progress reached no later than the second Senate meeting of the Spring of 2003, but may report earlier, if any specific proposals are ready for action.

Appendix A

Trustee adoption of this proposal will require modification of University Bylaws as follows:

ARTICLE XIII: COLLEGE AND SCHOOL FACULTIES

Add “clinical professors, associate clinical professors, and assistant clinical professors” where appropriate, and make them contingent voters along with lecturers and senior lecturers.

ARTICLE XVI: THE INSTRUCTIONAL AND RESEARCH STAFF

Add “clinical professors, associate clinical professors, and assistant clinical professors” in section 1 and amend section 2.d to read

d. Senior scholar, senior scientist, senior research associate, senior extension associate, senior lecturer, and full, associate, and assistant clinical professor shall be appointed by the President for a term of not to exceed five years, renewable indefinitely.

Appendix B

a version of amendment to VI.D proposed by Steven Shiffrin and Risa Lieberwitz, 7 May. additions underlined

D. The percentage of positions bearing the titles may not exceed 25% of the existing tenure-track faculty positions in the college or 25% of the tenure-track positions in those departments or programs where those positions are located, except as herein provided. A higher percentage may be afforded if, but only if, the relevant college, department, or program makes an overpowering showing that: (1) there is a need for the higher percentage; (2) the Clinical Professor positions in question would not replicate the functions of positions ordinarily held by tenured or tenure-track faculty; and (3) any additional Clinical Professor positions in a department or program would not detract in any way from the potential for adding tenured or tenure-track positions in that department or program.