The University Appointment: Freedom and Responsibility | University Secretariat and Legal Counsel

Last amended: November 1992

[Originally Printed as A Supplement to QUEEN'S GAZETTE, Volume IV, Number 43, Wednesday, December 6, 1972]

Report of the Senate Committee on Appointment, Promotion, Tenure and Leave (Approved by Senate on June 22, 1972; and by the Board of Trustees in October, 1972; Amended May 1986, October 27, 1988)

At the March 2, 1971 meeting, the Senate recommended that the Senate Committee on Appointment, Promotion, Tenure and Leave review matters regarding the responsibilities of faculty on a year round basis and submit recommendations on a number of specific concerns. (See Senate Committee on Academic Development, Report Number Twenty-two, Senate Agenda, March 2, 1971). To fulfill this request the Senate Committee on Appointment, Promotion, Tenure and Leave appointed a sub-committee with membership and terms of reference as shown below. Its Report on The University Appointment: Freedom and Responsibility, was approved by the Senate on June 22, 1972, and approved by the Board of Trustees at its October, 1972 meeting.

Members

Donald D. Carter, Faculty of Law
J.A. Euringer, Department of Drama
G.A. Harrower, Vice-Principal (Academic)
Duncan G. Sinclair, Department of Physiology - Chair
M.C. Urquhart, Department of Economics
W.E. Watt, Department of Civil Engineering

Terms of Reference

To review current practices and existing documents relating to the responsibilities and duties to the university of the members of faculty and to receive communications from individuals and groups within the university community on matters relating to this review.
To propose recommendations to the Senate Committee on Appointment, Promotion, Tenure and Leave on the adoption of a description, in general terms, of:
1. Those activities which together constitute the work done by members of faculty to meet their responsibilities and fulfill their obligations to the university.
2. the services, considerations and benefits, apart from salary and associated benefits, which the university undertakes to provide the members of faculty to enable them to meet their responsibilities.
To propose specific recommendations to the Senate Committee on Appointment, Promotion, Tenure and Leave on:
1. the proportion of the 12-month year which constitutes the standard period of employment for which a salary is paid by the university to members of faculty.
2. the adoption of policies concerning different periods of employment for those members of faculty whose work requires deviation from the standard period of employment.
3. policies related to leaves of absence and other forms of leave, with or without recompense by the university, in relation to the standard period of employment and other periods of employment which may be adopted.
4. policies to define the extent to which members of faculty, within their periods of employment, may engage in consulting and/or other work which does not constitute a primary responsibility to the university.
5. policies to define the rights of individual faculty members and of the university respectively as to the determination of salaries, periods of employment, and related matters, in relation to the total remuneration for work performed by members of faculty when part of such work does not constitute a primary responsibility to the university and for which remuneration in addition to that paid by the university is accepted.
To be governed in its procedures, without exception, by the rules applying to Committee Procedures (Section 31) of the Rules of Procedure of the Senate (as revised, 1986).

The University Appointment; Freedom and Responsibility

The faculty member holding a university appointment has no exact counterpart elsewhere. Because of the nature of the university as an institution of intellectual inquiry, faculty members require distinctive freedom in the use of their time and in the direction of their enterprises; at the same time, they must accept the responsibility of ensuring that their time is well spent and that their enterprises are directed fruitfully. This concept of freedom, coupled with responsibility, is embodied in our university custom and tradition.

With the growth of the University, it has become necessary to make more explicit the responsibilities of faculty members and to provide a general statement of the nature of a University appointment. The purpose of this document is to set out the basic principles to be followed.

1. Faculty Member

1.1 A faculty member is a member of the University who holds the academic rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor or lecturer as set out in section Ib) of the Regulations Governing Appointment, Renewal of Appointment, Tenure and Termination for Academic Staff.

2. Responsibilities of the Faculty Member to the University

2.1 The responsibilities of faculty members are essentially determined by the responsibilities and commitments which the University itself undertakes in order to fulfill its role in society. The University, as an institution of intellectual inquiry, functions to the benefit of society through the combined efforts of its individual members.

2.2 The University's prime commitments are to foster intellectual inquiry, to provide instruction and supervision to all registered students, and to set high standards of education and training. Intellectual inquiry includes research and other creative, reflective and scholarly work and involvement of faculty members in such professional service, consulting, and related work as may complement the primary commitments of the University. The University must also arrange for the efficient conduct of its own affairs.

2.3 Faculty members are expected, during their periods of responsibility, to devote all their professional endeavours to the purposes of the University as described in the whole of this statement. Such endeavours should be exercised to the best of their abilities and in a manner consonant with their right of free inquiry and with their membership in the University community.

2.4 The nature and extent of each faculty member's endeavours are matters to be agreed upon with the University. These professional endeavours -- in total comprising some combination of teaching, supervision, research, scholarship, professional service or consultative work, and administration -- may vary from time to time for any individual and may differ among individuals. A faculty member's responsibilities may require absence from the campus for periods of time.

3. Period of Responsibility

3.1 A member of faculty, holding either a full or part-time appointment, is responsible to the University throughout the twelve months of the year unless a shorter period of responsibility has been negotiated, or unless the faculty member takes a maternity, adoption or parental leave. In lieu of such a leave, the University will grant a period of reduced responsibility to those who request this in order to fulfil their parental responsibilities during the period in which they are eligible for the leave.

3.2 At the initiation of either the faculty member or the University, a shorter period of responsibility may be negotiated with the agreement of the University. A faculty member with a reduced period of responsibility is entitled to consideration by the University in matters relating to tenure, promotion, advancement, salary, leave, the University's pension plan and other employment benefits.

4. Responsibilities of the University to the Faculty Members

4.1 The University is committed to use its resources so as to optimize the quality of work done by all of its faculty members. It undertakes to develop, with thorough consultation and careful planning, those facilities, services and procedures which are conducive to excellence in the activities undertaken.

5. Professional Service, Consulting and Related Work

5.1 Professional service, consulting and related work are defined as activities involving the application of professional effort and expertise on behalf of individuals or agencies outside the University community. Activities unrelated to faculty members' expertise constituting their commitment to the University, are not affected by the provisions of this section.

5.2 The nature of professional service, consulting and related work should be such as to complement the primary commitments of faculty members to the University.

5.3 The nature and extent of faculty members' participation in professional service, consulting and related work and the use of the University's facilities in connection with such work are matters to be agreed upon beforehand with the University. Such agreements may relate to specific proposals or they may be more general, relating to types of professional service, consulting and related work and to limits on the time which may be devoted to such work. Occasional professional service, consulting and related work of limited scope may be undertaken without prior agreement.

5.4 The nature of all professional service, consulting and related work and the time committed to it are to be reported. This report shall include details about the specific nature of the work in addition to the time involvement in consulting and other activities involving faculty members' expertise to benefit agencies external to Queen's.

6. Procedures

6.1 Within each Faculty, the dean, in consultation with the Faculty Board, shall be responsible to the Principal for the establishment of regulations and procedures concerning the terms and conditions of employment for faculty members including the nature and extent of faculty members' involvement in professional service, consulting and related work. All such regulations and procedures shall be in accordance with the principles contained in this document.

6.2 All terms and conditions of employment, including the nature and extent of faculty members' involvement in service, consulting and related work, shall be in accordance with the principles contained in this document.

6.3 As part of the regular staff assessments and/or at other appropriate times, Department Heads shall report to Deans and Deans to the Principal on major commitments undertaken.

6.4 Faculty members shall be entitled to recourse to the grievance procedures that have been established for matters relating to salary and promotion if agreement with the University on the terms and conditions of employment is not reached.

[Amended re gender neutral language, November 1986]