202.160 - Access to Prior Reviews

The purpose of this section is to outline UCSC policy and procedures concerning access to documentation of prior reviews during subsequent academic personnel actions.

POLICY AND PROCEDURES

Candidates have access to prior reviews by requesting access to the records from the deciding authority (dean or executive vice chancellor, or chancellor, as appropriate). (Reference APM 160-20-c.) Candidates have the right to respond to reviewers' comments in the review file and include the response in subsequent reviews before the file is considered by the department.

Recommending units may want to consider past actions. If so, the unit's recommendation for the past action must be provided for the candidate's review and response at the department level before the current review file is considered by the department. (If the past review occurred prior to September 1, 1992, the records are to be summarized for the candidate. If the review occurred under the new access policy which went into effect on September 1, 1992, the candidate should be provided with a copy of the department's letter and redacted copies of any confidential letters.) A copy of the past review records provided to the candidate and the candidate's response must be included in the current review file. Access to the documents for a mid-career appraisal is automatically provided to the department and candidate when the results of the appraisal are communicated to the candidate.

Ad hoc committees will not have access to prior reviews, except under extremely unusual situations after approval by the executive vice chancellor. Requests should be addressed to the executive vice chancellor in writing by the chair of the committee and must include a justification. The executive vice chancellor must consult with the Committee on Academic Personnel before making a decision on access.

The executive vice chancellor and chancellor and the Committee on Academic Personnel may have access to all documentation from prior reviews. The current review shall document such access.

There is no expectation that extensive use will be made of past reviews; in fact, it is expected that their use will remain rather rare. Access by the ad hoc committee is circumscribed to balance the needs of providing the most information versus prejudicing their review. Excluding access by ad hoc committees to prior reviews will allow both the Committee on Academic Personnel and the administration to view the ad hoc report as a completely new outside assessment, as one of several pieces of information on which the decision is based.