Removal of Six-Year Rule

The chapter worked from 2012 through 2014 to remove the "six-year rule" from the Faculty Handbook, a rule that required the University to terminate lecturers from future full-time employment if they had served in that capacity for six years. The goal of the rule was to prompt the creation of more stable lines (tenure-stream or renewable) at the six-year point, if persistent programmatic need in the curriculum suggested that a faculty member was needed beyond six years to meet that need. In practice, however, the rule also prevented competent and experienced faculty from continuing as full-time employees even if the curricular need remained and the University could not provide an RTL or TT line.