Working Rules of the

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences College Council

 

Procedures on Appeal of Department Recommendation

 

 

The general grounds for an appeal by a faculty member of a departmental recommendation are listed in Section 7 of the Constitution and Bylaws as follows:

 

          a)       That inappropriate procedures were followed by a department;

          b)       That insufficient or inappropriate criteria or evidence were used in arriving at a department recommenda­tion; and/or

          c)       That other circumstances exist which the college considers a legiti­mate basis for an appeal.

 

Sections 7.13 and 7.14 are also pertinent to cases of non-recommendation.

 

          7.13    Appeal statements shall be in writing and shall set forth the spe­cific grounds for appeal and

                    all pertinent evidence.  In all appeals of a department action, the depart­ment shall have an opportunity to respond prior to a decision by the college.  Like­wise, the appellant shall be informed of the department statement and shall have an opportunity to respond to it.

 

          7.14    As in the regular personnel process, where a decision involves the professional competence or achieve­ments of an individual faculty member, the department's judgment shall be overridden only on the basis of substantial evidence that inade­quate or inappropriate pro­fessional standards or evidence were used by the depart­ment.  The college shall determine how such evidence is to be obtained and evaluat­ed.

 

 

The College Council will proceed as follows:

 

1.       The Council will consider only written materials.

 

2.       The appeal documents supplied by the faculty member must be shared with the department chair and department personnel committee chair who also have the option to supply the Council with a written response to the appeal docu­ments.  If the department chooses to make a writ­ten response to the appeal documents, the appellant, as stated in 7.13 above, shall have an opportunity to respond to the department's writ­ten re­sponse.  (The depart­ment will have five working days from the re­ceipt of the fac­ulty member's appeal docu­ments in which to respond.  Likewise, the facul­ty member will also have five working days from re­ceipt of the de­partment response to his appeal documents in which to respond.

 

3.       The Council will make a written recommendation to the department based on the appeal docu­ments provided by the above parties.

 

4.       Where the Council returns a recommendation to the department for reas­sess­ment and there is an indication that the previous position is reaf­firmed, the Council will provide a hearing which will permit all inter­ested par­ties (the faculty member, chair, and personnel commit­tee chair) to present informa­tion.  Notice of a request for a hearing must be made within five working days of the return of a recommendation.  This hearing will be an appeal of the recommendation made at the depart­ment level and a reconsideration of the prior Coun­cil recommenda­tion.

 

5.       An appellant appearing before the Council shall be permitted to bring one NIU colleague as an advisor and up to two NIU colleagues as observers.  Formal presentations to the Coun­cil shall be limited to the appellant and the advisor.  The appellant always appears first in Council hear­ings and will normally be limited to a 45 minute presen­tation.  The depart­ment shall be permitted up to three representatives and will normally be lim­ited to 30 min­utes to present their views.

 

 

11/11/91