Trustees at Suffolk University have voted to institute a post-tenure review policy. Tenured faculty will receive reviews once every five years. Somewhat on cue, the AAUP has denounced the policy. The Boston Globe has more details here.
Post-Tenure Review at Suffolk University
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Does the AAUP have any power?
As far as I can tell, its basically just an advocacy group for faculty members. It's union-ish, but not a formal union.
Does anyone know if the policy change applies to the law school? The article doesn't seem to specify that it does. In particular, I'm wondering if Suffolk will run into trouble with the ABA.
Suffolk will not run into trouble with the ABA, I'm guessing. There are already schools that are ABA accredited that have post-tenure review. I don't know how those reviews match up with what Suffolk is doing, but I'm guessing it's not too different.
That's interesting. I was under the impression, based on tenure related fights at other schools, that the ABA had problems with post-tenure reviews that could lead to termination.
I can't find anything in my cursory review of the ABA standards regarding "post tenure review" specifically. However, I did find Standard 404(b): "A law school shall evaluate periodically the extent to which *each* faculty member discharges her or his responsibilities under policies adopted pursuant to Standard 404(a)." where 404(a) deals with "policies with respect to a full-time faculty member’s responsibilities in teaching, scholarship, service to the law school community, and professional activities outside the law school". This doesn't say you need "post tenure review" specifically, but suggests at least that there should be some ongoing evaluation, even after tenure, which could include a post tenure review. Whether that means that someone could be removed post tenure for not meeting these standards would depend on if failure to meet these policies comes under "adequate cause" for removal.