The faculty senate last semester found that University Provost Marty Krauss acted outside her authority by granting tenure to two contract faculty members without first conducting a nation-wide search, according to senate minutes. The incident has sparked debate over guidelines for the inside and outside appointment of tenured faculty.The senate approved a statement at its Nov. 3 meeting, claiming that Krauss's decision "contravenes the Faculty Handbook." The body reached this conclusion after hearing from the Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Committee.

Krauss and the senate requested that the Rights and Responsibilities Committee review the handbook's policy regarding whether the provost acted within her authority, according to the committee's chair Prof. Bulbul Chakraborty. The committee was also charged with reviewing procedure for appointing outside faculty to tenured positions.

Krauss declined to comment, but Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe, in an e-mail to the Justice, wrote that the two professors work in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. He also said Krauss had not violated the handbook.

"She acted consistent with the handbook and with past actions, securing a waiver of fair search, which is the standard thing to do in this circumstance," Jaffe wrote.

Heller School Dean Stuart Altman was unavailable for comment.

Unlike contracted professors, tenured professors are not subject to the same periodic reviews by their department chair, academic dean and the provost.

In an Oct. 20, 2005 letter to Faculty Senate Chair Harry Mairson, the committee said there are precedents for appointing outside candidates to tenured positions without conducting a nationwide search. But the letter states that the committee knows of "no precedent" regarding the provost's actions.

Mairson was not available for comment.

Chakraborty said that since the handbook is vague, it is within the provost's and academic deans' authority to write guidelines on hiring professors without conducting a nationwide search.

Chakraborty said any such guidelines have to be approved by her committee. But because none had been approved when Krauss made the appointments, the senate voted that the provost had circumvented the handbook, Chakraborty said.

A passage of section five of the faculty handbook reads: "Appointments to faculty positions in the tenure structure are made by the appropriate academic dean or provost, on the basis of fair and open search procedures."

Chakraborty said at the Dec. 8 faculty senate meeting that her committee plans to introduce some reform to the handbook regarding outside tenured appointments.

Creating guidelines on this issue will ensure clarity in any future potential waivers of nationwide searches, Chakraborty said.

Chakraborty said Krauss submitted guidelines after the Nov. 3 senate meeting, but her committee was unsatisfied with her proposal.

"We're still working on her to get a guideline in place because we were not comfortable with the language completely," Chakraborty said.

Prof. Robert Moody (THA), a faculty senate council member, said the controversy stems from "miscommunication" between the administration and the faculty. Moody also said while he has a great deal of respect for the administration, it is the senate's duty to act as the administration's conscience, and to question their actions.