III. The Faculty

I. Affirmative Action

1. Affirmative Action Plan for Faculty Recruitment In the Affirmative Action Plan of Colgate University, adopted November 4, 1974, the President of the University stated that:

In its employment practices Colgate University has adopted an affirmative action policy under which it attempts to recruit women and minority group members in accordance with the goals and time-tables described in the Affirmative Action Plan of Colgate University. All persons responsible for recruitment, supervision, promotion and termination of employment of any University employee are charged with the effective implementation of the University's affirmative action and nondiscrimination policies.

At its meeting of November 6, 1978, the faculty, acting on the recommendation of the Faculty Committee on Affirmative Action Oversight, reaffirmed its commitment to the affirmative action goals adopted in 1974. In its meetings on November 2, 1981 and, again, on April 9, 1984, the faculty adopted revised goals for three-year periods. The plan adopted by the faculty on April 3, 1989 was thoroughly reviewed, brought up to date in a revised form, and formally adopted by the faculty vote on November 4, 1996 (for full text see http://offices.colgate.edu/aa/). It includes the following Affirmative Action policy, Nondiscrimination Policy, and Faculty Goals which are based on availability statistics. The Director of Affirmative Action provides the chair of all faculty searches with the latest statement of procedures used to implement these policies.

Affirmative Action Policy

We are also committed to policies of affirmative action designed to increase the employment of minorities, women, persons with disabilities, disabled veterans, and veterans of the Vietnam era. We aspire to broaden the diversity of our educational community. We recognize that this will require that we offset geographical isolation in order to create a rich representation of racial/ethnic minorities in order to attract other members of these groups. We also aim through affirmative action to help overcome the effects of both conscious and unconscious discrimination as well as the under representation experienced by these groups and women.

Nondiscrimination Policy

Colgate University is committed to treating all members of the University community in an equitable manner. We will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, physical disability, age (as provided for in federal and New York State laws), marital status, sexual orientation, or status as a disabled veteran or veteran of the Vietnam era. Further, it is our policy to recruit, hire, retrain, terminate, transfer, promote, compensate and distribute all benefits without regard to any such considerations.

Faculty Goals

While we recognize that numerical goals cannot be the sole measure of our success, we adopt the following goals to guide our good faith efforts as we recruit and select faculty from pools of qualified applicants.

1. Hiring and Appointments

a) The University will make every good faith effort to achieve the goal that at least 20% of the faculty hired during the next five years at the instructor and assistant professor levels shall be minorities. This goal applies to overall hiring and separately to hiring into the tenure stream.

b) The University will make every good faith effort to achieve the goal that at least 40% of the faculty hired during the next five years at the instructor and assistant professor levels shall be women. This goal applies to overall hiring and separately to hiring into the tenure stream.

c) The University will ambitiously seek to fill positions at the associate or full professor rank, including visiting distinguished chairs, with African-American and other Blacks, Hispanics, other national minorities, or women, in accordance with our commitment to diversity, to nondiscrimination and to affirmative action.

2. Retention, Opportunities and Development

a) The University will make every good faith effort to improve its retention of women and minority faculty members. To that end it recommends the plans for action in VI.B in the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employment Plan of October 1996.

b) Appointments of women faculty and faculty of color to positions of leader- ship, such as Academic Deans, Division Directors, Department Chairs, and Program Directors shall increase as the numbers of women and people of color increase at the associate and full professor level.

c) The University will ensure that there is equal opportunity for opportunities for professional growth, such as leaves of absence and attendance at workshops and conferences.

d) The University will ensure that teaching, research, and administrative assignments are made in accordance with our policies of nondiscrimination and affirmative action.

2. Implementation of Affirmative Action Policy Since adoption of the Affirmative Action Plan of Colgate University in 1974, directors of affirmative action have been responsible for helping to implement University policy. For the first few years, the Assistant Dean of the Faculty served as affirmative action director for academic personnel, while the Director of Nonacademic Personnel functioned as affirmative action director for administrative and nonacademic personnel.

In the spring of 1976, following a request made at the April Faculty Meeting, the Dean of the Faculty appointed a faculty committee to recommend "ways of improving the Faculty's achievement of its affirmative action goals." In May 1977, after a full-year's study, the Dean's Committee on Affirmative Action delivered a comprehensive final report with recommendations addressed to "the Faculty, Academic Departments, and the Dean of the Faculty." At its meeting of September 19, 1977, the Faculty established a standing Faculty Affirmative Action Oversight Committee, as recommended in the 1977 report. The Committee works closely with the Director of Affirmative Action and reports at least once a year to the faculty. In the fall of each year, the Dean of the Faculty reports to the Faculty on the previous year's recruitment and hiring in light of affirmative action goals.

In January 1978, acting on the recommendation of the Dean's Committee on Affirmative Action, the Dean of the Faculty created a new half-time position of Director of Affirmative Action for Academic Personnel, reporting directly to the Dean of the Faculty.

In January 1979, the President of the University named the same officer Director of Affirmative Action for all employment on the Colgate campus, thus adding administrative and staff personnel to the other responsibilities. In this latter capacity, the Director of Affirmative Action reports to the Provost. At the same time an advisory committee on affirmative action oversight for administrative and staff personnel, whose membership includes three faculty members from the Faculty Affirmative Action Oversight Committee, and three persons holding administrative positions, was appointed by the President.

In 1985, the position of Coordinator of Affirmative Action for administrative and staff personnel was created. The Coordinator works closely with the Director of Affirmative Action and administers the Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity policy of the University as it affects the administrative and staff personnel. This division of labor allows the Director to concentrate mainly on the faculty in administering Affirmative Action Policy.

In April 1989 and again in November 1996, the Faculty adopted Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employment Plans which each included specific goals and plans for action for recruiting, hiring, and retention of faculty, administration, and staff.