106.03 – Reconsideration of Non-Renewal for Probationary Employees

  1. Reconsideration Meeting – If reconsideration is ordered per 106.02 C.4, Report and Remedies, a meeting will be held to reconsider non-renewal. This meeting is not a hearing, nor an appeal, and shall be non-adversarial in nature. Its only purpose shall be to allow the academic staff member an opportunity to persuade the institutional representative responsible for holding the reconsideration meeting to change the non-renewal decision. The burden of persuasion is on the person who is being reconsidered. 
  2.  Time Limits. If the Hearing Body in its report directed a reconsideration of the non- renewal decision, a reconsideration meeting shall be held within 15 working days of the receipt of the report. 
    1. The academic staff member shall be notified a minimum of five working days prior to the meeting. 
    2. The time limits may be extended by mutual written consent of the parties. 
    3. The reconsideration meeting will be scheduled as a closed meeting unless the academic staff member requests that it be open. 
  3. Attendees at the Reconsideration Meeting 
    1. The employee and decision-maker. 
    2. Impartial Observers: 
      1. Upon the request of either party an impartial observer may be present. 
      2. The impartial observer will be selected by consent of the two parties from a panel of three chosen by the Hearing Body. 
      3. The impartial observer shall be a member of the university community, but not a member of the college, or division employing the academic staff member under reconsideration. 
    3. Witnesses and Counsel: 
      1. The academic staff member is entitled to present witnesses, to have counsel present, and to be provided with a recording of the proceedings. 
  4. Scope – The scope of reconsideration is addressed above in 106.03 A., Reconsideration Meeting. 
  5. Determination and Report 
    1. If the supervisor is the institutional representative responsible for holding the reconsideration meeting, they shall forward a recommendation and reasons in writing to the dean or division head with a copy to the academic staff member within ten working days of the reconsideration meeting. 
    2. If the dean or division head is the institutional representative responsible for holding the reconsideration meeting, they shall forward a decision and reasons in writing to the academic staff member within ten working days of the reconsideration meeting. 
    3. In either case, the dean or division head must prepare a report within ten working days of the reconsideration meeting, including their findings on the reconsideration decision and their response to the Hearing Body’s report. The report, including the Hearing Body’s initial report, shall be placed in the official personnel file with a copy sent to the academic staff member, the Hearing Body, and the chancellor. 
  6. Chancellor’s Action – The chancellor shall accept or reject the dean or division head’s decision and notify the dean or division head, the Hearing Body, and the academic staff member, in writing, within ten working days of the receipt of the dean or division head’s response. The chancellor’s decision shall be final. 
  7.  Deadlines – Except where the deadlines have been extended by mutual written consent, failure by the academic staff member to meet the deadlines established in the above sections shall be considered a waiver of the rights defined in those procedures, and the procedures will continue as outlined above.