UCSF Academic Senate Membership Information

UCSF Faculty Voting Standing Rule - August 2013
Click here to vote by August 31, 2013. Only those appointed to UCSF faculty titles are eligible to vote.

Related links and documents available at the bottom of this page.

UCSF faculty members have been concerned for decades about discrepancies based on the academic series to which they are appointed1. For colleagues who collaborate on teaching, research, clinical care and service, it has been frustrating for Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical colleagues to be denied access to aspects of faculty life such as departmental voting on advancements and promotion, serving as the sole chair of a graduate student committee or having access to an administrative grievance process rather than a peer-based process.

In 2010, a UC Systemwide Task Force on Academic Senate membership issued a report which recommended not extending the list of faculty series included in the Academic Senate. In 2011, this report was circulated to all the UC campuses as well as UC Systemwide Academic Senate committees for review and comment. The UCSF response is available here. In addition, UCSF faculty member Grayson W. Marshall and UC San Diego faculty member Joel Dimsdale provided a minority report for the University Committee on Faculty Welfare response that highlights their concern about inequities for faculty appointed to different series within the UC System.

The UCSF Task Force convened to respond to the 2010 UC Systemwide report has continued to work through 2013 to determine how discrepancies could be addressed for UCSF faculty members. The initial proposal, distributed to the UCSF community on March 19, 2012 recommended the inclusion of 100%-time Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical faculty members in the UCSF Academic Senate, effective July 1, 2012. This recommendation was reviewed by the University Committee on Rules and Jurisdiction (UCRJ) on May 8, 2012. The UCRJ report rejected the revised interpretation of the Standing Orders of the Regents that UCSF could include additional faculty in the Academic Senate based on the following sentence within SOR 105.1a:

Members of the faculties of professional schools offering courses at the graduate level only shall be members also of the Academic Senate, but, in the discretion of the Academic Senate, may be excluded from participation in activities of the Senate that relate to curricula of other schools and colleges of the University.” (SOR 105.1a)

Following the UCRJ response, the UCSF Academic Senate Membership Task Force, including Division Chair Robert Newcomer, have continued to work at the UCSF and UC Systemwide levels to remedy the inequities facing UCSF Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical faculty members and to continue to pursue requesting that the Regents revisit SOR 105.1 to include UCSF Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical faculty members in the Academic Senate. The Task Force issued its report and recommendations on July 15, 2013.

A UC Systemwide working group was appointed to review and recommend solutions for existing inequities between Senate/Non-Senate faculty across the UC System.

 

1 UCSF appoints faculty members to five series, which include Ladder Rank, In Residence, Clinical X, Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical. Three of these series are included in the Academic Senate by the series listed in the Standing Order of the Regents 105.1a. They include: Ladder Rank, In Residence and Clinical X (as well as other series not used at UCSF). Additional information about each academic series may be found in Section II of the University of California Academic Personnel Manual (APM).

2 The Advance system will not be immediately updated to reflect the new voting eligibility. This change will be requested for the next round of revisions of the Advance system. Individual departments will need to track the votes of Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical faculty members and report the outcomes in the Chair’s letter.

 

Why is this important?
Why require 100% Appointments for Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical Faculty Members?
What does this mean for me?
Participation in Shared Governance at UCSF
Departmental Voting Rights
Faculty Grievance Process
Supervision of Graduate Students
Home Loans and Recruitment Funds
Duties, Powers and Privileges of the Academic Senate

Why is this important?
Colleagues participating in the education, research and clinical missions of UCSF should be included in shared governance at UCSF and in the UC System.

Proportionately greater numbers of women and under-represented minorities hold Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical faculty titles at UCSF.

Why require 100% Appointments for Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical Faculty Members?

Clinical X, In Residence and Ladder Rank faculty must be appointed at 100% as APM 005 presumes a full-time commitment to the University of California. There will be no change to the current practice, in which Clinical X, In Residence and Ladder Rank faculty members may negotiate a time-limited reduction from 100%. Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical faculty members who are appointed below 100% will not be included in the UCSF Academic Senate. This will maintain flexibility for allow for ongoing appointments at less than 100% in the Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical series.

What does this mean for me?

Participation in Shared Governance at UCSF
UC and UCSF have a long tradition of faculty-administration shared governance. Including a greater number of our colleagues in the Academic Senate means more faculty will have a voice in shared governance. In practical terms, this means that more faculty members can participate in and/or lead Academic Senate committees and vote on departmental, school or campus-wide issues. More information about the duties, powers and privileges of the Academic Senate is provided below.

Departmental Voting Rights
Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical faculty will be eligible to vote2 on the advancements and promotions of colleagues in their department and to have their advancements and promotions voted upon by colleagues per UC Systemwide Senate Bylaw 50.

Faculty Grievance Process
Academic Senate faculty have access to the Committee on Privilege & Tenure, a committee of peers who reviews grievances and makes recommendations to the Chancellor. Less-than-100% time Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical faculty will continue to have access to the grievance procedure in APM 140.

Supervision of Graduate Students
The current Regulations and Procedures of the Graduate Council state that Committees for Higher Degrees must be composed of Academic Senate members (with exceptions granted by the Graduate Dean), and that non-Senate members may not be the sole chair of a committee. They may co-chair with an Academic Senate member. Graduate Council is reviewing Regulation V and has proposed revisions to facilitate Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical faculty participation on student committees.

Home Loans and Recruitment Funds
Additional information available via the Academic Affairs website: http://academicaffairs.ucsf.edu/academic-personnel/recruitment-retention/HomeLoanPrograms.php

  • The Mortgage Origination Program (MOP) and the Supplemental Home Loan Program (SHLP) are recruitment tools to assist qualifying new faculty in purchasing their first home in the Bay Area. The MOP program is limited to faculty with appointments in the Ladder Rank, In Residence or Clinical X series within the first two years of their eligible appointment, or in some cases may be offered to faculty members as part of a retention effort. In exceptional, extraordinary circumstances may a campus request participation for a non-standard title, which requires a request from the Chancellor, several levels of review at the Office of Loan Programs, and the final review and approval from the President of the University of California. 
  • Faculty Recruitment Allowance Program (FRAP) is a faculty recruitment fund available to department chairs to provide support for housing costs, but may also be used to support childcare expenses, education or tuition assistance, or similar expenses for faculty members recruited to Ladder Rank, In Residence or Clinical X series. The Vice Provost for Academic Affairs will accept exception requests for Adjunct and Health Sciences Clinical from the department chair with the concurrence of the school dean or designee.

Duties, Powers and Privileges of the Academic Senate
The UC Regents have provided for the following duties, powers and privileges of the Academic Senate:

  • Education: the Academic Senate is responsible for determining the conditions for student admission, certificates and degrees; recommend candidates for degrees; authorize and supervise all courses and curricula
  • Faculty: the Academic Senate is responsible for determining faculty membership, organization, appointments and promotions. included in these responsibilities is the right to be judged by one’s colleagues, in accordance with fair procedures and due process, in matters of promotion, tenure, and discipline. These judgments are solely on the basis of the faculty members’ professional qualifications and professional conduct.
  • Disciplinary procedures: the Academic Senate is responsible for the discipline of members of the faculty, and the formulation of rules and procedures for discipline of students,
  • Departmental governance: the Academic Senate has the right to determine the forms of departmental governance. This includes (but is not limited to) the selection of department chairs and certain academic administrators.
  • Budget: the Academic Senate is advisory to the Chancellor on campus budgets and to the President on the University budget.
  • Right to communicate to the Board of Regents: the Academic Senate may bring its views on any matter pertaining to the conduct and welfare of the University before the Board of Regents via the President.
  • Libraries: the Academic Senate may advise the President and Chancellors regarding the administration of the University libraries.
  • UC Press: the Academic Senate may select a committee to approve UC Press publications.
  • Academic Units: the Academic Senate shall advise the President on the establishment and disestablishment of colleges, schools, graduate divisions and organized multi-campus research units.

 

Last amended July 18, 2002
Standing Order of the Regents 105.1a