A Call to Higher Education Administrators Regarding Faculty Review and Reappointment Processes During the COVID-19 Crisis
Higher education is facing unprecedented circumstances due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Courses are moving online; campuses are closing; conferences are cancelled. These changes are already generating significant consequences for institutions, faculty, and students. In response to these rapidly changing and uncertain conditions, several institutions have announced changes to their faculty review and reappointment processes, including allowing one-year tenure clock extensions and limiting how student evaluations of teaching from this term will be used. The American Sociological Association (ASA), in collaboration with the scholarly societies listed below, commends these institutions for quickly taking steps to recognize the parameters of our current context and encourages all institutions of higher education to consider appropriate temporary adjustments to their review and reappointment processes for tenure line and contingent faculty.