Administrators redefine faculty at Lincoln University

Lincoln University’s board of curators voted Thursday to alter the college’s definition of academic and administrative faculty.

The definition of academic faculty is listed in the university’s rules and regulations.

“The members of the academic faculty of the university shall be designated by the following titles: Professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and instructor,” said the handbook. “Title designation and term of service shall be determined at the time of appointment.”

A more detailed definition was proposed and passed by the faculty senate in 2016, saying “Faculty Senate shall be composed of all permanent and temporary, full-time members of the academic faculty (academic appointment of .75 FTE or higher).”

Greene’s letter said the parameters in the Senate version of the definition of academic faculty were put in place so that only full-time teachers would have a say in recommendations to the administration.

In a letter to the board of curators, Dr. Debra Greene, interim provost and vice president of academic affairs, suggested narrowing the definition even further to include only faculty “members of a department in which a degree program is housed and whose condition of employment is a probationary, tenured, or tenure-track appointment.”

This comes after curators voted last month to allow university president Dr. Kevin Rome to declare financial exigency on singular departments or programs rather than the college as a whole, a status that allows for the revocation of tenure.

Dr. Bryan Salmons said he is not sure how this definition change will affect the makeup of the faculty Senate, a body for which he serves as chairman.

Salmons said Greene’s recommendation was motivated by the ongoing effort by the faculty to start a collective bargaining unit.

The Lincoln University administration declined to comment on board’s action.