If you are a University of Missouri System faculty member and object to the new, secretive, system-wide policy that could reduce tenured faculty salaries by 25%, please read and sign this petition.

“As members of an academic institution, Faculty Members [of the University of Missouri System] … maintain their right to criticize and seek revision.”

Collected Rules and Regulations (CRRs) of the University of Missouri, CRR 330.110.D.4

On May 4, 2020, University of Missouri System President Mun Choi changed the Collected Rules and Regulations (CRRs) to allow each campus Chancellor to reduce tenured faculty salaries by 25%. Because the wide-reaching nature of this new policy (CRR 320.030.F.) is still not well understood, it should be quoted in full:

F. Criteria-Based Salary Reductions for Tenured Faculty: Each chancellor may approve and implement criteria for reducing salaries of faculty members on continuous appointments. Criteria may be established by the chancellor on a university-wide basis, or they may be developed by a college, school, department, or other similar unit for use within that unit and submitted to the chancellor for approval.

  1. Criteria must rely on published departmental standards for satisfactory performance or objective and documented indicators of productivity, budget, enrollment or workload needs. Criteria must be developed and applied so that salary reductions will apply on an equitable basis to similarly situated faculty members and will not be used to single out individuals.
  2. A faculty member will be notified by the department chair or dean of the amount of any salary reduction, when it will go into effect, and the reason for the reduction based on the established criteria. The faculty member may seek review of the reduction by submitting a written request to the provost within 5 days of being notified. The provost will approve, deny, or modify the salary reduction.
  3. The salary reduction may not be more than 25 percent. If it is 10 percent or more, it will be accompanied by a commensurate reduction in FTE if requested by the faculty member.
  4. A salary reduction based in whole or in part on performance or productivity criteria will go into effect no earlier than the beginning of the next academic year. A salary reduction based only on criteria concerning budget, enrollment or workload needs can go into effect in the pay period following notice to the faculty member.

To clarify: a tenured faculty member’s salary may be reduced by 25% on the basis of “performance” or factors entirely outside that faculty member’s control: “budget, enrollment or workload needs.”

This policy and the manner in which it was inserted into the CRRs:

• violated faculty rights: “The faculty has the right to be informed of actions and activities of committees and executive officers of the campus and of the University-wide system, including those related to budget matters, as well as decisions of other bodies which affect UMC [University of Missouri-Columbia]. Where possible, this information shall be made available to the faculty before being made available to the general public.”1 Faculty were not informed about this major insertion into CRR 320.030.2

• undermined faculty authority and shared governance: MU faculty members have “primary and direct authority” (“essential decision-making authority”), concerning “Formulation of criteria determining professional standing of faculty — including but not limited to such matters as tenure, promotion, termination, [and] guidelines for responsibility.” MU faculty members also have “shared authority” regarding “Application of criteria affecting professional standing of faculty,” and “advisory authority” regarding “Application of criteria affecting promotion, tenure and termination.”3 CRR 320.030.F. does not require any reliance on faculty authority in formulating “criteria determining professional standing of faculty.”

• ignored existing policies for post-tenure review: If concerns arise about tenured faculty, who like all faculty are reviewed every year, those concerns can be addressed in the post-tenure review process (CRR 310.015.B), which involves a dialogue with the faculty member, is geared toward professional development, involves (if necessary) an independent faculty review committee, and mentions the possibility of positive “incentives” (CRR 310.015.B.1.e.). This new policy in CRR 320.030.F., by contrast, never mentions professional development or a faculty review committee, and is purely punitive.

• violated American Association of University Professors (AAUP) standards: CRR 320.030.F. specifically violated AAUP standards for academic due process by allowing the imposition of a major sanction without a hearing before a faculty committee or even the opportunity to appeal the sanction to such a committee.4 This violation is especially concerning to MU faculty because the MU administration has been under censure by the AAUP since 2016. MU is also a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), and a core academic principle of the AAU is shared governance. The AAU’s understanding of shared governance is based on an AAUP statement.

• was made at a time of great personal and professional disruption: CRR 320.030.F. was put in place on May 4, 2020, as the chaotic Spring 2020 semester was winding down. Faculty members, students, and staff to the best of their abilities adapted to an unprecedented shift to remote learning in March 2020. Faculty were focused on completing the semester while struggling with fears and concerns for themselves, their families, and their students. To institute a system-wide policy for reducing tenured faculty salaries at this time, and without prior consultation or subsequent notification, was especially inconsiderate and disrespectful.

• will harm faculty retention and recruitment: Some UM System faculty will leave to work at institutions that value shared governance and respect faculty members. Faculty members being recruited to come to UM System campuses will be reluctant to do so, knowing that at any time and without prior consultation or notification, UM administrators can significantly reduce tenured faculty salaries for reasons entirely outside faculty members’ control.

• will harm student success: Tenured faculty balance teaching, research, and service. Early indications are that CRR 320.030.F. is being used to punish tenured faculty for alleged deficiencies in research, and it will dramatically redirect faculty time away from helping students. This new policy will discourage and potentially penalize faculty for focusing on teaching, spending extra time helping students, writing student recommendation letters, serving on student committees, supervising student research projects, and other advising and mentoring work.

For these reasons and others, we, the undersigned UM System faculty, are petitioning President Choi to immediately rescind Section F of CRR 320.030. If UM administrators wish to begin a good-faith discussion with the faculty about evaluating faculty performance while adhering to established principles of shared governance and supporting the multi-faceted nature of the university’s mission, then we are open to such a discussion.

Petition prepared by the MU AAUP Chapter leadership.

  1. Faculty Bylaws of the University of Missouri-Columbia, CRR 300.010.C.1.d. Similar rights are asserted for University of Missouri-St. Louis faculty in CRR 300.040.B.2.e. We believe that faculty at University of Missouri-Kansas City and Missouri University of Science and Technology have the same rights even though they are not explicitly included in their Bylaws.
  2. The previous version of CRR 320.030, which lacks section F, is archived here.
  3. CRR 300.010.C.3.a.-c. A similar description of UMSL faculty authority appears in CRR 300.040.B.4. We believe that faculty at UMKC and Missouri S&T also have this authority.
  4. See Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure, Regulation 7 on “Procedures for Imposition of Sanctions other than Dismissal.”
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