2.1 Employment Policy

Kenyon College is an "Equal Opportunity Employer." In recruiting persons for its faculty and administration, Kenyon College seeks professionally qualified individuals without regard to age, ancestry, disability, national or ethnic origin, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. Additionally, it does not support discrimination based on marital status, political belief or activity, or status as a veteran.

The principle of equal opportunity governs the practice of the College in selecting among candidates, in determining remuneration, and in offering advancement within the College. Kenyon College’s Sexual Misconduct and Harassment Policy: Title IX, VAWA, Title VII was approved in 2015.

2.1.1 Board of Trustees Statement

(approved May 1976) (edit Oct 2014, July 2015)

Kenyon College does not discriminate on the basis of sex in the educational programs or activities which it operates. This policy of nondiscrimination is required by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq., and the Final Implementing Regulations of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 45 C.F.R. Part 86, and extends to faculty, staff, students and visitors. Inquiries concerning the application of Title IX and the implementing regulations to Kenyon College may be referred to the “Civil Rights/Title IX Coordinator,” the employee designated pursuant to 45 C.F.R. Part 86.8.

2.1.2 Faculty Statement

(approved April 1973)

For many years the attitudes and practices of society have created de facto barriers to equal-employment opportunity. For positions that require long periods of education and high standards of professional competence, the imbalances resulting from such barriers are especially severe in that they cannot be redressed quickly nor without special effort. That observation applies to faculty and administrative positions in higher education generally, including positions at Kenyon, whose student body first included women in 1969 after 145 years as a men's college.

2.1.3 Equal Opportunity Guidelines

(revised August 2010)

In recent years Kenyon has made progress in appointing women to faculty and administrative posts. Those efforts to assure equal employment opportunity can be intensified through adherence to the following guidelines by department chairs, administrative officers, and all others who participate in decisions regarding the recruitment, appointment, evaluation, and advancement of faculty and administrative personnel.

Announcement of faculty and staff openings shall contain the phrase "Kenyon College is an equal opportunity employer," or a similar statement to make clear that women and members of minority groups are welcome as candidates. Furthermore, special effort should be made to assure that information concerning openings reaches channels of communication that are normally used by women and members of minorities. Traditional channels within professional societies and graduate schools may or may not serve this purpose adequately.

Evaluation of candidates shall be based on personal and professional qualifications for the position to be filled. No criteria of age, ancestry, disability, ethnic/national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status/family affiliation, political beliefs, or veteran status shall influence the evaluation of applicants.

Salaries shall be based upon the personal and professional qualifications of the appointee, reflecting existing conditions within the profession and salary scales of the College, but alike for men and women.

Criteria for evaluating the performance of members of the faculty and administration, as well as standards for decisions concerning salary increments, reappointment, advancement in rank, and the granting of tenure, shall be alike for men and women, independent of family affiliation.

2.1.4 Nepotism

A member of the faculty or administration may be related by marriage or by blood to another member, without prejudice to the position of either. The College has no "anti-nepotism" rule.

2.1.5 Academic Freedom

All persons appointed to the faculty are entitled to academic freedom as set forth in the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, formulated by the Association of American Colleges and the American Association of University Professors.

Faculty members are entitled to full freedom in research and in publication of the results, subject to the adequate performance of other academic duties.

Faculty members are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their discipline but should be careful not to introduce matter, especially of a political and personal nature, which has no relation to the relevant discipline.

All persons appointed are citizens, members of a learned profession, members of the faculty, and employees of the College. When faculty members speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional or professional censorship, but their special position in the community imposes special obligations. As persons of learning and faculty members, they should remember that the public may judge their profession and the College by their utterances. Hence they should be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should make every effort to indicate that they are not speaking for the College.

Faculty members who believe that violations of their academic freedom or legal rights have contributed to a decision not to reappoint them or to a decision to terminate their appointment have recourse to a review in accordance with the Grievance Procedure provided (See section 2.5.)

2.1.6 Report of Convictions

The College requires that faculty must notify the Provost in writing within five days of a conviction for a felony, first or second degree misdemeanor, or any drug, alcohol, or sex-related offense. Failure to notify of such conviction may constitute grounds for disciplinary action, at the discretion of the President.

2.1.7 Teaching Expectation

The normal teaching expectation for regular and visiting faculty members teaching full-time for the academic year is 3:2. In cases where full-time faculty members take semester leaves, they will normally be expected to teach three courses in the semester they are on campus.

2.1.8 Guidelines For Faculty Recruitment and Hiring

(approved September 1993) (edited August 2010, Oct 2014)

This document arises from the College's commitment to appointing and retaining a faculty of the highest quality. The Mission Statement designates diversity of backgrounds as one of the measures of quality, and these guidelines, in aiming at the general goal of enhancing faculty excellence, have as a specific goal the broadening of the likelihood that faculty searches will generate candidate pools that contain women and persons from minority backgrounds. The guidelines below are consistent with other statements in the Faculty Handbook about the recruitment of faculty, and while they update the earlier "Guidelines" document, they are designed to be faithful to the commitment made in that document to promote equal opportunity in hiring.

A. The Definition of the Position

A description of the position for which a search is requested is submitted by the department chair to the Provost as far in advance as is reasonably possible.
1. If the position is new, a detailed description with supporting evidence (e.g., arguments concerning staff size, curriculum, enrollment, interdisciplinary range) will already have been endorsed by the Executive Committee of the faculty. These materials should accompany the request.
2. If the position is a tenure-track position, vacated by the departure of the previous incumbent, a similar though often less extensive justification is required. As a matter of course the Provost will ask all departments faced with such a vacancy to consider whether the position should be redefined within the department in light of changes that may have occurred in the discipline.
3. In the case of full-year sabbatical or leave without pay replacement, a brief statement of the need is generally sufficient.
After discussion with the Provost, the department chair and the Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (APDEI) receive authorization from the Provost to seek candidates for the new position or vacancy. This authorization specifies rank and the character of the appointment (regular or visiting).

B. The Search Committee

For tenure-track appointments, the department chair consults with the Provost before selecting the search committee; for visiting appointments, the chair consults with the Associate Provost. The department chair may choose to serve as chair of the search committee, but many departments prefer to have another member handle this responsibility. The faculty places three requirements on the formation of each search committee. First, the committee must include at least three faculty members. Second, the committee must include at least one faculty member from outside the department, chosen in consultation with the Provost for tenure-track positions and with the Associate Provost for visiting positions. This "outside" member is to be involved as fully as possible in all stages of the search and the selection process. Third, the search committee will include at least one person of each gender.

C. Advertising the Position

The advertising copy must be approved by the APDEI and the Provost (for tenure-track positions) or the Associate Provost (for visiting positions) before placement.
Openings for all full-time positions, visiting and regular, of at least one year's duration, will be advertised nationally, except as noted in sections 3 and 4, below.
1. The ad will include:
  1. a description of the position;
  2. a list of special qualifications and competencies desired;
  3. either the deadline for the submission of applications or a date after which applications will begin to be considered (at least 30 days from the initial appearance of the ad); and
  4. an address to which applications should be sent.
2. Ad placement will ordinarily include but not be limited to graduate schools, professional journals or newsletters, women and minority caucuses of professional organizations, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
3. If the department wishes to receive applications and/or nominations after an advertised deadline, it must re-advertise the position with a new deadline. New deadlines require the approval of the Provost (for tenure-track positions) or the Associate Provost (for visiting positions) and the APDEI.
Part-time openings or full-time visiting positions that become available too late for a full search must also be advertised if time permits. However, advertising for these positions may be limited to local or regional sources, and the application deadlines may be more immediate.
For positions of no more than one year in duration, the Provost or the Associate Provost may, at the request of the department and in consultation with the APDEI, waive the obligation for a national search and authorize either a more local search or the appointment of a person with whose work the department and the College are already familiar.
Occasionally the College may appoint a current/recent visiting faculty member into a tenure-track position when there is ample evidence that an appointment would be in the best interests of the College (e.g., for reasons of continuity or need). The Provost and President in consultation with the APDEI and EXEC will make such a decision on a case-by-case basis. For an exception to be made the current/recent visitor must have been hired in a recent national search conducted by the College.
Recruitment of candidates should not be limited to the running of advertisements. Written inquiries should be directed to graduate schools, institutions comparable to Kenyon, colleagues, and relevant "outside" professionals. Where available, the Provost and Associate Provost or APDEI will supply names of prospective candidates from women and minority rosters; if the credentials of these persons appear to qualify them, they should be notified of the opening. Phone contacts and electronic postings are also appropriate.

D. Conducting the Search Prior to Campus Visits

In all searches, the tenured and tenure-track members of the department in which the appointment is to be made will meet with the Provost, the Associate Provost, and the APDEI at a workshop to review hiring procedures and discuss strategies for assuring success in the search. At this meeting special issues relevant to the particular search in question (e.g., recruitment strategies, makeup of the candidate pool, anticipated start-up costs, facilities needs, secretarial support, procedures for equal opportunity monitoring) will be identified.
At the time the advertising copy is submitted for approval, information about where the position will be advertised, who shall serve on the search committee, etc. should be outlined on PeopleAdmin (the online database) for approval by the Provost (for tenure-track appointments) or the Associate Provost (for visiting positions) and by the APDEI.
Whenever possible, recruitment and preliminary screening interviews should be conducted personally at professional meetings. It is the College's policy to pay for the attendance of two department members for each search for interviewing purposes at a professional meeting. Whenever possible, an interview team should contain members of both genders. If the timing of professional meetings makes such meetings inappropriate for recruitment purposes, the interview team should speak to candidates by telephone.
If visiting members of the Kenyon faculty who are eligible for consideration apply for a tenure-track appointment, they are to provide the same information required of other candidates (see section 5, below), and if they are chosen for campus visits, these visits should conform as closely as possible to the model prescribed for those visits in part E and the "Protocol for Searches with Internal Candidates," available from the Provost and the APDEI. (See sections 2.3.4 and 2.4.6 on Visiting Appointments.)
When preliminary interviewing is complete, the chair of the search committee will send to the Provost (for tenure-track positions) or the Associate Provost (for visiting positions) the committee's ranking of the ten best candidates. This TOP TEN REPORT will also be sent to the APDEI.
Given the College's commitment to equal employment opportunity and diversity of the faculty, search committees will strive to identify and recruit minority and women candidates. When no such persons are included on the list of ten candidates, the chair of the search committee will offer an explanation in a conversation with the Provost (for tenure-track positions), the Associate Provost (for visiting positions) and the APDEI and, if there are minority and/or women applicants, review their applications online along with the top ten. The Provost, the Associate Provost, and/or the APDEI may ask the search committee to reconsider its ranking in light of the conversation.
In consultation with the chair and the APDEI, the Provost or the Associate Provost will identify the candidates to be invited to Kenyon for an on-campus interview. Normally, three candidates will be brought to campus, and ordinarily the Provost or Associate Provost will approve invitations to the top three candidates identified in the TOP TEN REPORT. But if the Provost or Associate Provost believes that it is important, especially for purposes of diversity, to bring someone not in the top three to campus, the Provost or Associate Provost may direct that a fourth candidate be invited or one of the top three be replaced by a candidate from lower down on the list.

E. The On-Campus Interviews

During on-campus visits, interviews with candidates will be scheduled for: the President and the Provost (for tenure-track positions) or the Associate Provost (for visiting positions); members of the department conducting the search; and a representative group of students.
Other groups may appear on the campus itinerary of candidates. The search chair should be sensitive to the need for, or the appropriateness of, scheduling such meetings.
1. Candidates often find it useful to meet informally with members of cognate departments and administrators in the academic division, the student-life division, and the Department of Library and Information Services.
2. An appointment should be made with the Office of Human Resources to discuss fringe benefits.
3. If the candidate is a woman, an informal meeting with a group of women faculty members may be included in the itinerary.
4. If the candidate is a minority candidate, an informal meeting with a group of minority faculty members may be included in the itinerary.
5. Sometimes candidates have requests to meet particular groups. The APDEI will invite all candidates to identify such special interests, and the search committee (often with the help of the APDEI) will seek to meet the request.
During an on-campus visit, candidates will be expected to teach a class session and make a presentation that demonstrates their scholarly/research/artistic interests and talents. In certain instances, with the permission of the candidate, both activities will be videotaped.
1. The class will ordinarily be scheduled as part of a regular course, but it will be open to members of the search committee, who are expected to attend, and to the Provost and Associate Provost.
2. The professional presentation will be announced in Newscope or via email and will be open to all interested faculty and students. Search committee members are expected to attend.

F. Identifying the Person to be Invited to Join the Faculty

When on-campus interviews have been completed, the chair of the search committee should seek and receive assessments from all department members, the President, the Provost (for tenure-track searches) or the Associate Provost (for visiting positions), and the students. The Provost or Associate Provost may be the conduit by which the views of the President are conveyed. Student feedback can be received through student membership on the search committee, the use of a parallel student committee, or some similar means which result in systematic evaluation from students.
After the committee has considered all of the advice it has received, the chair of the search committee will inform the Provost or the Associate Provost of the committee's recommendation. The committee has three options: to recommend one candidate as the best, to recommend more than one as especially good, or to recommend none. After consulting with the chair of the search committee, the Provost or Associate Provost will recommend a course of action to the President. If the decision is to offer an appointment, the Provost or Associate Provost, with the approval of the President, will authorize the chair of the search committee to offer the appointment to the candidate, though not salary and terms. The candidate will discuss salary and terms with the Provost (for tenure-track searches) or with the Associate Provost (for visiting searches).
If the person to whom the position is offered rejects the offer, the procedure outlined in section 2, above, will be repeated.
If the response to an offer is favorable, the President will send a letter of appointment and a contract to the appointee.

After an appointment has been offered and accepted, the chair of the search committee will submit the FINAL HIRING REPORT, which lists and ranks the candidates in order, including the hiree. A copy of the FINAL HIRING REPORT will be sent to the Provost for tenure-track positions and to the Associate Provost for visiting positions, with a copy to the APDEI.

G. Record Keeping

Accurate records must be kept throughout the hiring process. The department conducting the search will keep copies of the hiring reports. The dossiers of all applicants will be stored online on PeopleAdmin. After that, a search file that contains the hiring reports and the dossiers of the top ten candidates will be held in the department for an additional four years. The APDEI will also maintain a search file consisting of the TOP TEN REPORT and the FINAL HIRING REPORT and a copy of all national advertisements for a period of six years.
1. The Chair of the search committee submits the following information:
  1. The TOP TEN REPORT and the FINAL HIRING REPORT to the Provost/Associate Provost and to the APDEI
  2. Copies of the "Guidelines for Faculty Recruitment and Hiring" are included in the Faculty Handbook and are available from the Associate Provost and the APDEI. Copies of the "Protocol for Searches with Internal Candidates" and the TOP TEN REPORT and the FINAL HIRING REPORT are available from the APDEI, the Provost and the Associate Provost.