CDFPT Appeal Process
Faculty considered but not recommended for promotion or tenure by the CDFPT may direct appeals to the President through the Office of the Provost. The President then calls upon and takes into consideration the recommendations of the Appeals Committee. This Committee is composed of six members of the faculty (exclusive of the School of Law) who are not on the CDFPT and who are elected by their respective Location Faculty Councils: three from the Westchester Faculty Council and three from the New York Faculty Council. Six alternate members are similarly elected to be available in case of inability to attend or challenge for cause of a regular member of the Committee. Alternates attend all Appeals Committee meetings and receive any written report and informational materials. They may participate in the deliberative discussions, but have no vote in the Committee’s decisions, unless substituting for an absent or a voting member who has recused him/herself.
In addition, two voting faculty members of the CDFPT, named by that group, will serve as non-voting liaison representatives to the Appeals Committee and, as with the CDFPT, the Provost will serve as a resource person on matters of procedure. All communications between these individuals and members of the Appeals Committee are held in strictest confidence.
Each faculty member has the right to appeal his or her CDFPT decision. A formal request for such appeal must be filed in writing to the President through the Office of the Provost within thirty calendar days after the nominee has been sent written notification of the CDFPT decision. The appeal must set forth in sufficient detail the grounds upon which the appeal is based.
Through the Office of the Provost, the President will arrange to have the first meeting of the Appeals Committee. This meeting will be scheduled within fifteen calendar days after the latest date for filing an appeal. At this first meeting the Committee will elect its chairperson. The Committee reviews each appeal. Within forty-five calendar days after the latest date for filing an appeal the Committee submits a written report on all of its recommendations to the President. The report indicates the reasoning that underlies each and all Appeals Committee recommendations. Recommendations are confidential and made available by the Committee only to the President and the candidate.
The Appeals Committee can only consider whether an appeal is warranted if: (1) procedural due process was not followed (e.g., information provided by the nominee in a timely and otherwise appropriate fashion was not presented to the CDFPT), and/or (2) the appellant is as qualified as a candidate within an equivalent rank recommended by the CDFPT in the same year. Dossiers within the relevant rank are made available for review to those who wish to appeal CDFPT recommendations.
The Committee only has information offered by the CDFPT liaison representatives and access to the same fact sheet, evaluation forms, recommendations, and dossier reviewed by the CDFPT. The Committee is unable to consider information not available to the CDFPT. As with the CDFPT, the Appeals Committee is not bound by precedent. Recommendations reached in a given year are mutually exclusive of those reached in prior years.
Within fifteen calendar days after receiving the Appeals Committee's written recommendation, the President will issue a decision in writing to the appellant with a copy to the members of the Appeals Committee and to the academic dean concerned. Those appeals approved by the President are forwarded to the University's Board of Trustees to be considered for official and final approval.