Resolved: Faculty Senate lifts the limit on clinical track faculty

It’s democracy in action. Here Steve Collins, professor of electrical and computer engineering, introduces an amendment to the resolution that was subsequently approved by the Faculty Senate. Photo by Rex Bavousett.

The clinical track was instituted in 1995 in response to rapid changes in the health care industry, notably the emergence of managed care. The University responded by creating a new classification of faculty that would be devoted to teaching and patient care, with no obligation to conduct research. As an experimental move, the size of the clinical track faculty was limited to 20 percent of the entire faculty.

In the opinion of the majority of the Faculty Senate, the experiment has been a success.

As a result of the vote, the Faculty Senate is recommending that there no longer be a University-wide cap on clinical faculty. According to this new plan, each college would be allowed to set its own limit, with the approval of the Provost. Moreover, any increase in the cap would have to be approved by a majority of the tenure/tenure track faculty and a majority of the clinical track faculty within that college, voting separately. Why the double majority? To ensure that any change will be for the betterment of the college as a whole, not for the advancement of faculty within that track.

It was an afternoon of diverse opinions, minute points, and alternative ideas. One amendment that was voted into the final resolution, proposed by Steven Collins, professor of electrical-computer engineering, specified that "Demonstration of artistic or scholarly achievement shall not be a requirement for reappointment or promotion of clinical track faculty."

The Faculty Senate’s resolution is not yet binding. It’s a recommendation that must be approved by the provost and the Board of Regents. If approved, the new rules will be duly entered into the Operations Manual.

Jonathan Carlson, professor of law, presided over the vote in one of his last acts as outgoing president of the Faculty Senate.

"This is something that in the long run will come to be seen as a good decision. I think the clinical faculty will still be engaged in scholarship. They will be fully participating faculty in the health care colleges, performing an important function for those colleges. They’ll just be more specialized than tenured faculty have been."

As for the debate and dissent, Carlson is satisfied with the results of the democratic process.

"There was controversy, but in the end the vote in favor of this was very significant. There was a solid majority."

Article by Sam Samuels