The Question of Collegiality

Is "collegiality" a valid category in assessing whether a faculty member merits promotion?  This statement from the American Association of University Professors explains in the plainest terms the dangers of separating collegiality out from those criteria traditionally taken into account at most institutions of higher learning: teaching, research, and service.  The statement argues that by necessity, collegiality is a component of all of these areas, indeed, for one's overall performance as a faculty member.  Separating collegiality as its own category could, the AAUP argues, have a chilling effect on a faculty member's expressions of dissent in various areas where such dissent is constructive and important (such as curriculum committees or job searches), and thus threaten academic freedom, and it could tend to enforce homogeneity.  The UFCT 1460 stands by, as always, the procedures laid out in Article XVI of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when questions of reappointment, promotion, and tenure are raised.

–Suzanne Verderber