About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

27 J.C. & U.L. 833 (2000-2001)
The Role of Collegiality in Higher Education Tenure, Promotion, and Termination Decisions

handle is hein.journals/jcolunly27 and id is 901 raw text is: THE ROLE OF COLLEGIALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION TENURE, PROMOTION, AND TERMINATION DECISIONS MARY ANN CONNELL* FREDERICK . SAVAGE** I. INTRODUCTION1 Courts have upheld the right of a college or university to consider a faculty member's working relationship with his or her colleagues as a valid basis upon which to make a tenure, promotion, or termination decision for many years.2 However, the word collegiality was not the focus of court decisions until 1981, when the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Mayberry v. Dees3 introduced into higher education case law, seemingly with approval, the defined concept of collegiality''4 as a distinct criterion upon which to base tenure and promotion decisions.5 From the time of Mayberry on, provocative discussions and debates have increased on college and university campuses and in the literature over the appropriate role of collegiality in faculty tenure, promotion, and termination * B.A., University of Mississippi, 1959; M.A., University of Mississippi, 1971; MLSci., University of Mississippi, 1972; J.D., University of Mississippi, 1977; LL.M., Harvard Law School, 1991. Ms. Connell is General Counsel of the University of Mississippi and is a former president of the National Association of College and University Attorneys. ** B.A., Princeton University, 1969; J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 1974. Mr. Savage is Deputy General Counsel, Johns Hopkins University, and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of College and University Attorneys. 1. The authors acknowledge that this paper is based significantly on two outlines which they prepared for presentations at the Stetson University College of Law Conferences on Law and Higher Education, February 14, 1998, and February 11, 2000. They further acknowledge with appreciation the contribution Robert Dale Bickel, Professor of Law, Stetson University College of Law, made in recognizing the importance of the subject of collegiality in higher education employment decisions and in encouraging them to develop their work on this subject into this article. 2. See generally TERRY L. LEAP, TENURE, DISCRIMINATION, AND THE COURTS 107- 12 (2d ed. 1995). 3. 663 F.2d 502 (4th Cir. 1981), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 830 (1982). 4. The Mayberry court defined collegiality as the capacity to relate well and con- structively to the comparatively small bank of scholars on whom the ultimate fate of the university rests. Id. at 514. Collegiality has also been defined as cooperative interaction among colleagues. RANDOM HOUSE WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY (1993). 5. Interestingly, the actual decision in Mayberry was that there was no basis to con- clude that the plaintiff was denied tenure due to his exercise of First Amendment rights. Collegiality was addressed by the court in a detailed discussion of tenure in response to the apparent suggestion by Mayberry that if he had been a satisfactory teacher for five years, he must be entitled to tenure. See Mayberry, 663 F.2d at 513. In addition, East Carolina University, unlike most universities, also had an explicit reference in its policies on promo- tion and tenure to the consideration of a faculty member's constructive relationship with colleagues. Id. at 514.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most