Dear Faculty Relations: Our department has a tenured full professor who doesn’t show up to meetings, which results in other faculty having to take up the slack. I don’t know what to do when this person doesn’t do their job. Can I hold them accountable?
Dear Accountable: Yes! A faculty member is expected to “participate in the operation and governance of his or her academic department or division, school or college and of the University.” (PRD, Part II, C. 1. b). When they do not, they violate this academic policy and are subject to sanctions.
There are variations of this same theme of not fulfilling one’s professional responsibilities, whether skipping department or committee meetings, not using Canvas or teaching remotely appropriately, not responding to email, either from students, advisees, or colleagues.
It can feel more comfortable not to act; many of us would prefer to avoid conflict. But silence could be offering a permission slip for the individual to engage in that behavior again. It can inadvertently reinforce bad behavior, and it might even embolden a problematic faculty member to act worse. For a junior faculty member, it can strengthen the impression that all that matters is seniority; that senior faculty can do what they want and are untouchable, and there is no accountability. Don’t turn a blind eye and become complicit by permitting what you know is wrong to continue.
Written by Suzanne Soled, PhD, Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Support; Director of Faculty Relations, Office of Faculty Affairs, University of Colorado Boulder, January 2021