March 2020

With disruptions in the work and personal lives of university and college faculty during this unprecedented time, AERA signed on to a statement from the American Sociological Association (ASA) calling on higher education administrators to consider appropriate temporary adjustments to their review and reappointment processes for tenure-line and contingent faculty.

The March 23 ASA statement, which 38 societies across academic disciplines co-signed, noted:

Courses are moving online; campuses are closing; conferences are cancelled. These changes are already generating significant consequences for institutions, faculty, and students. In response to these rapidly changing and uncertain conditions, several institutions have announced changes to their faculty review and reappointment processes, including allowing one-year tenure clock extensions and limiting how student evaluations of teaching from this term will be used.

The American Sociological Association (ASA), in collaboration with the scholarly societies listed below, commends these institutions for quickly taking steps to recognize the parameters of our current context and encourages all institutions of higher education to consider appropriate temporary adjustments to their review and reappointment processes for tenure line and contingent faculty.

The statement recommended:

• Limiting the use of student evaluations of teaching from the current term for both tenure-line and contingent faculty
• Adjusting expectations for faculty scholarship during this period
• Pausing normal procedures for faculty review and appointment

“Institutional measures must be adopted to support faculty in this new, uncharted environment,” the statement said. “We also strongly encourage institutions to communicate these changes to their faculty expeditiously in the interest of allowing our colleagues to focus attention on the immediate work at hand rather than anxiety about future evaluation.”