The UNLV Bylaws (I.4.3.3 and III.6.2) specify that for tenure specifically and all personnel recommendations generally, the units shall establish their own “procedures and criteria for all personnel recommendations in accordance with college, school, and institutional bylaws.” While the institutional bylaws do not specify how committees meet to discuss personnel decisions, the UNLV Faculty Senate Tenure and Promotion Committee and the Office of Faculty Affairs jointly recommend the following guidelines for faculty who are meeting remotely to discuss tenure and promotion decisions:

  1. Transparency. Develop a plan for meeting remotely and communicate it to administrators, the faculty at large, and this cycle’s candidates. There should be absolute clarity about how the committee and/or the faculty as a whole are meeting to discuss and vote on personnel recommendations.
  2. Platform. WebEx is the group meeting software officially supported by UNLV’s Office of Information Technology; choosing to use that platform guarantees that there will be technical support available. Other platforms, including Zoom and Google Meet, may be viable alternatives. When choosing a platform, please consider security, accessibility, ease of use, and the support available for all users.
  3. Equity. Ensure that technical issues are worked out beforehand, so all candidates can be reviewed on equal footing, and with comparable rigor.
  4. Confidentiality. Whatever the venue for discussing personnel decisions, confidentiality must be honored. When meeting remotely, the committee chair is responsible for ensuring that only those authorized to take part in the discussion are present and is empowered to immediately remove anyone who is not authorized to participate from the meeting/discussion. In order to promote all participants feeling empowered to have a candid, robust discussion, do not record the meeting.
  5. Voting. If your faculty are accustomed to voting in person by voice vote, a show of hands or other non-anonymized procedure, you may still do so remotely, taking care to verify with all participants that the vote was accurately recorded. If your practice is to vote anonymously, use Qualtrics or another tool that can solicit anonymous voting results.