VOL. 22, NO. 21	APRIL 18, 1997

By Tom Mathewson

he University Senate Faculty Affairs Committee will present a proposal to change tenure review procedures at an open hearing on Fri., Apr. 18. The meeting will begin at 1:00 P.M. in 501 Schermerhorn.

  The proposal, produced by a subcommittee led by James Valentini, offers revisions to the Provost's "Principles and Customs Governing the Procedures of Ad Hoc Committees and University-wide Tenure Review."

  Among the main innovations proposed are a witness, to be chosen by the tenure candidate, whose sole task would be to represent the candidate and give expert testimony about his or her scholarship before the ad hoc committee, the five-member faculty panel that reviews each candidacy; and a larger and more broadly representative Tenure Review Advisory Committee (the faculty group that selects ad hoc committee members) to be appointed not by the provost, but by deans.

  Other recommendations clarify and somewhat limit the provost's role in ad hoc deliberations in order, according to Valentini, to "reinforce the importance of the two central, and independent, components of the Columbia system of ad hoc review--advice by the faculty, decision by the Provost."

  Members of Faculty Affairs will make short statements on Apr. 18, but the main purpose of the meeting, according to committee chairman Eben Moglen, will be to hear the comments and questions of as many colleagues as possible before the year's final Senate meeting, on Apr. 25.

  Copies of the proposal are available in the Senate Office. Call 854-6836, or send email to tmm2@columbia.edu.