The Faculty Senate voted unanimously to recommend changes to the Faculty Handbook that would, in effect, create a policy to protect faculty members' copyright interests in material developed for and used in teaching electronically generated and transmitted classes, including TELETECHNET and Web-based classes.

"It's a matter of academic freedom, pure and simple," Wolfgang Pindur said at the senate's April 27 meeting. "These materials belong to the faculty. Just because they are transmitted in a different way, the interests of faculty members should not be abridged or denied."

A professor of urban studies and public administration, Pindur chaired the senate's Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty and University Interests and Rights Related to Faculty-Developed Material Used in Teaching Courses. He said the committee reviewed the policies of about 30 universities before developing its proposal. The proposal will be forwarded in the form of a recommendation to President Koch.

According to the committee's rationale statement, the existing copyright policy does not adequately account for technological advances in teaching and thus does not sufficiently protect the rights of faculty.

The statement reads: "The committee recommends that faculty creators retain copyright interests in all materials developed for and used in courses, regardless of whether they are live courses or courses presented in electronic form. Such work will remain the sole property of the faculty creator.

"The university may, however, store a copy of this material during the semester in which it is offered. Further, the committee recommends that the course material or its derivative works should not be used in any way without the express written permission of the faculty member. The committee also recommends that faculty creators shall retain the right to use and update copies of their works.

"Finally, the committee recommends that the university will exercise its rights as an employer under the concept of work-made-for-hire only when the materials subject to copyright represent work performed by an employee under the direction of, or assignment by, the university and pursuant to a mutual agreement between the university and the employee."

Provost Jo Ann Gora also spoke to the senate as an invited guest to address concerns senators had expressed at previous meetings regarding post-tenure review.

She assured the senate that the university policy does not constitute an attack on tenure, but instead is a guideline that allows the university to address patterns of performance deficiency.

"The purpose of post-tenure review is not to dismiss people but to help them do better - to provide better service to their students and their department," she said. "The goal is to improve performance."

The process, she noted, is meant to help maintain the credibility of tenure. "We need to defend the system of tenure to the outside world. In the outside world, no one has tenure, no one has job security without being able to demonstrate competence." If a tenured faculty member is not performing at an appropriate level after having been given an opportunity to address his or her performance deficiencies, "dismissal seems hard to argue with," Gora added.

In response to another question the provost replied that she is not aware of any cases of intimidation or threats in regard to the policy's implementation. She noted that the time period faculty are asked to demonstrate improvements in performance varies but "typically is one to two years."

During the six years the policy has been in effect, only 25 of approximately 600 tenured faculty have been determined to have a pattern of deficiency, warranting a post-tenure review, Gora said.

In most of the 25 cases, the faculty chose to retire or take early retirement, while a few others successfully followed individual strategic plans to improve performance, Gora told the senators. Only this year, for the first time, has there been a recommendation for dismissal, she said. The provost added that she has told the deans she wants to see "more success stories" as a result of this process.

In an April 30 letter to 1998-99 Faculty Senate chair William Drewry, President Koch said that he plans to appoint a six-member post-tenure review task force that will "examine our policies, procedures and practices and make recommendations for change." The task force, to be chaired by Karen Gould, dean of the College of Arts and Letters, will meet during the next year and recommend to the president any changes it determines are necessary.