Proposal To Clarify the Faculty Status of Librarians
Whereas: Librarians have been formally recognized as faculty at Eastern
Kentucky University since February 1963 when faculty rank and title were
granted to them by the Board of Regents. Librarians have participated
in faculty governance since the inception of Eastern Kentucky University’s
Faculty Senate in 1966, and
Whereas: The American Association of University Professors since 1973
has recognized librarians as entitled to faculty status–“The
function of the librarian as participant in the processes of teaching
and research is the essential criterion of faculty status,” and
Whereas: In 1988 the community of librarians at EKU was split in two
by a change of contracts which retained faculty status, but altered ranks
for librarians hired after that date, and
Whereas: The result of that change was the exclusion of newer library
faculty from participation in the election of Faculty Regent while allowing
those same new library faculty to serve on Faculty Senate, and
Whereas: All Librarians now have titles parallel those of teaching faculty;
are promoted through the ranks based on their achievements in teaching/job
responsibilities, service and scholarship, receiving the same promotional
salary increases as traditional faculty, and
Whereas: The Senate rules committee has determined that “faculty
members who fit the current definition of teaching and/or research faculty
should be able to serve as the Faculty Regent,” with the logical
assumption that those who serve are logically entitled to vote for same,
and
Whereas: The Librarians meet the criteria for “faculty who fit the
current definition of teaching and/or research faculty” according
to Part VII, Section II, Subsection B of the current Faculty Handbook.
The section reads, “The Teaching and/or Research Faculty of Eastern
Kentucky University shall include all full-time employees of the University
who hold the rank of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor,
or Instructor, and whose faculty-load assignment includes 50 percent or
more teaching and/or research as shown by the Faculty Load Analysis or
comparable report for the fall semester for each year or who are members
of the library faculty,” and
Whereas: The ambiguity and uncertainty surrounding this issue of librarians
having voting rights for Faculty Regent does not serve the library faculty
well, nor does it serve the faculty-at-large well; it is at best a distraction
from the issues of substance for which both groups care deeply; at worst,
it creates an unnecessary exclusion for selected members of this faculty
body.
We therefore move: That the Faculty Senate adopt the following recommendations
for changes in the Faculty Handbook and also in the Bylaws of the Faculty
Senate:
- Change the prior language in the Faculty Handbook, Part II: Organization
and Administration of the University Board of Regents, from “All
faculty members of the rank of assistant professor or above are eligible
to vote,” to
“All faculty members of the rank of assistant professor or above,
or librarians holding comparable ranks are eligible to vote.”
- Change the
prior language in Faculty Handbook, Section VII: The Faculty Senate,
section B (Membership of the Senate), subsection 2 c. to read: “All
individuals eligible for election to the Faculty Senate shall be eligible
to vote in a Faculty Senate election. An individual shall be eligible
to cast a ballot for Senate members only in that election unit in which
the individual holds the academic rank of Professor, Associate Professor,
Assistant Professor, Instructor, Visiting Professor, Visiting Associate
Professor, Visiting Assistant Professor, Visiting Professor, University
Librarian, Associate University Librarian, Assistant University Librarian,
and
Library Instructor.”
Meetings