The purpose of this study was to generate a rich description of the events at one university that resulted in a Title VII lawsuit in federal court and to formulate recommendations to assist faculty and administrators who are charged with the responsibility of carrying out the promotion and tenure process. Four recommendations were formulated. They included:
First, and perhaps most obvious, persons who are found to have violated federal law should be separated from the university. Sources of potential legal liability cannot be tolerated without placing the long-term viability of the university at risk.
Second, a qualified, trusted overseer of compliance issues as required by federal law, must be in place. This person should have adequate training in the law to plan needed training for employees, write and review necessary policy, and to create the needed processes to ensure those policies are followed and, when questions arise as to whether they were, and provide fair and legal processes to resolve conflicts and correct wrongs.
Third, promotion and tenure are intended to be collaborative processes involving both faculty and administration. This is only possible with clearly written guidelines and policy, along with sufficient trust within faculty and between faculty and administration. Well-written policy can help prevent misunderstanding and ambiguity. Transparency is a necessary condition to build trust. Administration must be straightforward with faculty and faculty with administrators. Clear rationales must be provided to candidates for promotion and tenure to ensure fair and legally defensible decisions are being made.
Finally, administrators and faculty alike, must be willing to respect and be guided by decisions made in the appropriate grievance processes. Otherwise, grievance processes lose meaning, and can even be damaging to the organization due to layers of conflict generated by distrust.
Presented by Dr. Stewart Mayers of Southeastern Oklahoma State University and Dr. Thomas Harvey of Lamar University at the Education Law Association's 65th Annual Conference in Norfolk, Virginia on November 14, 2019.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of professional coaching and supervision received by principal candidates from university faculty and instructors during the field experience and practicum activities within a principal preparation program. A secondary purpose was to determine the significance, if any, when face-to-face field supervision and coaching was added to existing online practicum field experience activities. Forty percent of the one-hundred fifty principal candidates that were surveyed responded to a survey regarding their practicum field experiences. Results revealed that candidates perceived that they received quality coaching and supervision during the field experience component of their practicum. Principal candidates noted that both the online medium and face-to-face medium were very positive in contributing to growth and learning within the program. Inferential tests revealed little if any significant differences regarding the addition of face-to-face university led field supervision.
Presented by Dr. Neil Faulk, Dr. Brett Welch, and Dr. Thomas Harvey at the Mid-South Educational Research Association Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana on November 8, 2019.