After postponing the vote for a month, the faculty senate approved extending the time allotted to professors on the tenure track who require an extra year to prepare themselves for tenure review. The amendment, which passed Thursday, must now be approved a second time for it to go into effect. The faculty handbook committee wrote the revised policy to extend the tenure clock for assistant professors on the tenure track from six to seven years.

Under the existing policy, after six years of working at the University, an academic dean, University Provost Marty Krauss and the respective department chair decide whether tenure-track professors should receive tenure.

The proposal grants an optional seventh year to those professors who want more time to work on scholarship and research, chair of the faculty rights and responsibilities committee Richard Gaskins said at last month's meeting, when the amendment was presented.

The initial vote on the proposal was postponed due to confusion over the wording.

Prof. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS) had said the proposed changes sounded "vague and illogical."

If we have a seven-year tenure clock instead of six, will the best and most energetic young faculty look to other universities where they can advance more quickly?" Sarna asked last month.

The additional year gives faculty members more flexibility in working toward receiving tenure, Krauss said at last month's meeting.

Gaskins said the amendment also clarifies the status of professors who are denied tenure in their sixth year.

Under the new policy, professors may be reappointed for another four years after the initial three years. Professors who are denied tenure will be given a one-year "nonrenewable appointment" outside the tenure structure.

Currently, associate professors on the tenure-track are reviewed after three years, and may then be reappointed for another three years. After six years, professors undergo tenure review. Following review, professors are told whether they will be given tenure or be fired.

Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe said last Thursday the extra year will not raise standards to receive tenure, a concern expressed by some faculty last month. The extension won't make it more difficult for professors to receive tenure but will allow more time for the University to make better-informed tenure decisions, he said.

The faculty also gave its approval to a change in the University's Family Medical Leave Act policy, which grants professors time off for family and health emergencies.

The FMLA change was initially passed at the March meeting, but needed a second approval to become official policy.

Under the previous rule, when professors took leave for seven weeks, they received an extra semester on their tenure clock, University Provost Marty Krauss said last month.

The new policy grants those professors an additional year to their tenure clocks, she said.

"It's very consistent with what other universities are doing and we want to maintain that level of competitiveness with our peer institutions," she said.