Last March President McCormick wrote to the University Senate indicating his agreement with the provisions of the Resolution on “Making Public the Recipients and Amounts of FASIP Awards.” In accordance with the President’s letter, I have informed the Camden and Newark Provosts and the New Brunswick Deans of department faculty members’ rights to determine the extent to which the FASIP recommendations of their peer evaluation committees and department chairs are to be made public. In New Brunswick, I asked the Deans to initiate discussions within their units and to report back to me regarding whether or not their school or departments favored public disclosure of these award recommendations.
The Deans have now begun to report back to me on the positions of units and departments that have considered the question of public disclosure of FASIP recommendations. Of the 50 New Brunswick units and departments reporting to date, 15 (30%) favor some level of public disclosure, while 35 (70%) prefer that departmental FASIP recommendations remain confidential. Departments counted as favoring disclosure have notified their Deans of their intention to disclose (in some cases to continue to disclose) either recommended FASIP recipients or recommended award levels or both. This category includes some departments that indicated that they would reveal FASIP recommendations to faculty members only upon their request, and those that indicated that review of the recommendations would be controlled in some way (within a private office, or seen but not copied). Those departments that indicated faculty members would be permitted to see only recommendations related to their own individual awards were counted among those not favoring public disclosure. Several departments reported that they favored disclosure of final award recipients and amounts rather than departmental recommendations.
If I receive additional reports about the outcomes of discussion
on FASIP disclosure in departments, I will provide you with an updated
summary.