A group of about 30 faculty 
members, including the nine 
members of the tenure bylaw 
working group, gathered in 
the Pendleton Room of the 
Michigan Union Thursday to 
discuss proposed changes to 
the University of Michigan’s 
tenure policy. 
Due 
to 
recent 
sexual 
misconduct allegations against 
Provost Martin A. Philbert, 
many 
professors 
expressed 
a feeling of urgency about 
amending these bylaws.
The working group, which is 
comprised of faculty members 
from 
various 
departments 
across the three University 
campuses, 
was 
created 
in 
October 
2019. 
The 
group 
was formed after the School 
of Music, Theatre & Dance 
professor David Daniels was 
accused of sexual assault in 
August 2018 and placed on paid 
leave. The University is still in 
the process of firing Daniels.
Sharon Glotzer, Chemical 
Engineering department chair, 
chairs 
the 
working 
group. 
Glotzer led the discussion, 
which focused on suggesting 
a new tenure removal policy in 
regards to items 5.09 and 5.10 
in the regents’ bylaws, which 
deal with standard procedure 
in cases of faculty dismissal as 
well as severance pay.
David 
Potter, 
Arthur 
F. 
Thurnau professor of Greek 
and 
Latin, 
delivered 
the 
opening 
remarks. 
Potter 
said the University created 
these tenure policies during 
the McCarthy era to protect 
professors’ 
academic 
and 
personal freedom.
In addition to calling for 
the changes to these outdated 
bylaws, 
professors 
and 
attendees said they hoped the 
recommendations 
would 
be 

made quickly. 
Ella A. Kazerooni, professor 
of 
radiology 
and 
internal 
medicine 
at 
Michigan 
Medicine, said she wants to 
know more about the final 
outcome 
of 
the 
working 
group’s 
recommendations. 
Kazerooni 
said 
she 
thinks 
by determining the group’s 
goals the bylaws can be more 
efficiently restructured. 
“So I think, for me, it’s 
trying to understand what the 

goal is,” Kazerooni said. “If 
the goal is to streamline the 
process and make the process 
clearer for everybody, faculty 
departments, administration, 
I think that’s a laudable goal 
and we’d really like to see that 
happen.” 
The 
working 
group 
suggested that, in the case of 
tenured faculty removal, two 
separate trials could run in 
conjunction with one another. 
They proposed having two 
separate groups of professors 
who have no contact with one 
another in order to guarantee a 
more fair trial for the professor 
being tried. 
Astronomy professor Sally 
Oey said she felt two trials 
would not only diminish the 
quality of the examination but 
would lead to confusion for all 
parties.
“I think one of the most 

problematic things is the fact 
that they want to try to run 
two consecutive hearings that 
are right in parallel with each 
other for the faculty member 
who’s been charged,” Oey said.
The 
group 
proposed 
allowing the University to 
terminate the pay of tenured 
faculty 
members 
charged 
with 
“manifestly 
egregious 
misconduct” who are placed on 
administrative leave. They also 
discussed how a committee 

would be able to justify taking 
a professor off tenure and 
withholding pay.
“The 
pay 
suspension 
is 
created 
by 
acts 
that 
are 
‘manifestly 
egregious 
misconduct’ 
beyond 
the 
standard process,” Potter said.
Glotzer said pay removal 
would be a very rare situation 
reserved for only the highest 
levels of misconduct. Bruce 
Maxim, Engineering professor 
at U-M Dearborn and member 
of the faculty working group, 
said the two-trial process is 
supposed to place power in the 
hands of faculty.
“From 
my 
perspective, 
we do not want this to be an 
administrative driven process 
(where) the administrators call 
the shots,” Maxim said. “If four 
of the five faculty members 
on there do not agree with 
(the claim), guess what? It’s 

not egregious and the report 
will 
say, 
‘Sorry, 
President 
Schlissel, we don’t think this 
is 
‘manifestly 
egregious.’ 
Schlissel may decide that he 
doesn’t care and may decide to 
continue to withdraw pay, but 
at least the faculty had a chance 
to object and say, ‘No, we don’t 
want to see this happen.’”
Psychology 
professor 
Twila Tardif, a member of the 
faculty tenure working group, 
addressed 
issues 
with 
the 
language in bylaws 5.09 and 
5.10. Twila said though the 
language is ambiguous, other 
universities have tried to use 
language that reflects how 
the misconduct impacts the 
community.
“I completely agree that 
‘manifestly egregious conduct’ 
is very difficult to define,” 
Twila said. “... However, it 
can be misinterpreted. The 30 
or so other institutions we’ve 
looked at, one of the things 
we’re doing is trying to look 
at and see: How have people 
identified this?”
Glotzer 
said 
though 
the 
faculty is being given the 
opportunity to provide their 
own suggestions, the Board 
of Regents can change this 
bylaw without their input. She 
said more discussions will be 
held regarding the possible 
pay 
suspension 
policy 
and 
hopes people will be devoted 
to determining the outcome of 
this issue.
“These are the Regents’ 
bylaws and they can change 
those 
bylaws 
whether 
we 
want them to or not,” Glotzer 
said. “So we’re being given an 
opportunity, and in this room 
too, to provide feedback on 
what that process ought to look 
like.”
Reporter Jenna Siteman can 
be reached at jsiteman@umich.
edu

2 — Friday, January 24, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
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Renowned activist Angela Davis at the Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium Keynote Memorial Lecture

It’s trying to understand what the 
goal is. If the goal is to streamline the 
process for everybody and make the 
process clearer for everybody, I think 
that’s a laudable goal and we’d really 
like to see that happen.

Faculty working group discusses 
changes to tenure faculty bylaws

Professors consider denying payment to those on leave for ‘manifestly egregious conduct’ 

JENNA SITEMAN 
Daily Staff Reporter

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