Statement of Chancellor Rebecca Blank on UW System tenure process

Chancellor Rebecca Blank issued the following statement on Friday, Oct. 30:

“As has been reported in the media, I expressed concerns in an Oct. 22 email about a Oct. 20 memo issued by UW System President Ray Cross outlining the process going forward to create a new tenure policy for UW System campuses.

After discussions with System leadership about the intent of the language in that memo, I am confident we are all in agreement with the process moving forward, including consideration by the UW–Madison Faculty Senate on Monday of a policy related to when and under what circumstances tenured faculty may be subject to dismissal.

At the Faculty Senate meeting I expect the faculty to pass a draft policy that will be sent to the System’s Tenure Task Force as a suggested policy for UW–Madison. Once a broad System policy is enacted, UW–Madison will have the opportunity to finalize its specific policy in UW–Madison’s Faculty Policies & Procedures (FPP).

This process is entirely consistent with other instances in which individual campuses use Faculty Policies and Procedures to specify how Regent policy will be implemented on that campus.

I look forward to the UW System’s Tenure Task Force and our Faculty Senate moving on with the important task of developing policies that will finalize our tenure guidelines.”