Faculty Appointments & Review — Statement on Confidentiality during Faculty Reviews

All reviews of faculty are confidential personnel matters. Issues relating to reviews are not to be discussed outside of meetings of the review committee or meetings of the faculty participating in the review (in reviews for promotion and/or tenure, these are meetings of the departmental promotion and tenure committee and meetings of the departmental consulting group). Questions from those not eligible to participate in the review may be answered only if they relate to the review procedures (for example, the timeline for the review, materials considered in the review).

No information about the substance of the review may be communicated, either formally or informally, to those ineligible to participate in the decision. When a review has a specific outcome (e.g., a decision to promote and/or tenure), the outcome is communicated to the department (including staff and students) by the DEO. Consistent with the University Operations Manual, section III.29.5.d(7), no evaluative documents from the review (including, in promotion and tenure reviews, recorded votes of the departmental or collegiate consulting groups and redactions performed to protect the writers' expectation of confidentiality) may be disseminated either before or after a review has been completed.

Disclosure of confidential review matters by faculty participating in the process may be considered a violation of the University Policy on Professional Ethics and Academic Responsibility (Operations Manual, III-15).