Dear Colleagues:
Since the beginning of this academic year, I have seen a rise in the number of retention cases for ladder-rank faculty. As I have expressed to several of you, there appears to be a feeling that UC faculty are prime targets for recruitment by other institutions given the current California budget crisis and the below market salaries for UC faculty.
Many of the retention files that I have seen were processed on an urgent basis. In several cases, the faculty member’s reply-by deadline from the completing institution was the same day or the day after review by the Committee on Academic Personnel (CAP). Staff and faculty at all levels of review work diligently in order to meet these deadlines set by other institutions. As the deciding authority, I have rearranged my schedule in order to accommodate several urgent requests. Given the number of such requests and the increased burden on all involved, I am no longer entertaining rushed retention requests. All retention cases must allow at least two weeks, after being considered by CAP, for a final decision. In some cases, this will make it necessary for faculty to obtain deadline extensions from the competing institutions.
In addition, I have been presented with several retention cases where the written competing offer does not contain a reply-by deadline. I expect that all retention cases will contain documentation from the competing institution of the date that a reply is due. Although retention cases are routinely given priority handling, cases that do not contain a written deadline from the competing institution will be handled by my office in the order received.
Please make certain that the department chairs within your division are aware of the processing time for decisions on retention cases.
Sincerely,
David S. Kliger
Campus Provost and
Executive Vice Chancellor
