After some discussion over the years, UH is on the cusp of making an historic change in the granting of tenure.  A proposal has been sent to the faculty senate chairs on the ACCFSC that would allow the President to grant tenure.  UH has always required at least one year of probationary status before being granted tenure by the Regents.  This new policy would delegate to the President the authority to grant tenure to administrators and faculty members immediately upon hire.  Other universities grant immediate tenure as a method of recruiting outstanding, and usually well established, faculty members from other institutions.  This policy, should it be accepted, would still require the Board of Regents to approve normal tenure applications, but would open a new door to the granting of tenure that could by-pass the traditional faculty initiated review processes.  Some would argue that except for faculty members with tenure moving into academic administrative positions, the granting of tenure to a new administrator is inappropriate.  For a time, the Regents were hiring UH administrators on five year contracts without tenure in an academic department.

Comments on this proposal should be sent to Vice President Linda Johnsrud johnsrud@hawaii.edu