After more than an hour of discussion and debate, Kent State Faculty Senate voted to pass a new policy regarding distinguished ranks during its meeting Monday.

Faculty Senate voted on the fifth version of the Policy and Procedures Regarding Distinguished Academic Ranks after amending the policy several times before it finally passed. Six amendments were motioned to tweak the policy, one of which was later withdrawn before the policy was taken to vote.

The policy will address the hiring of faculty with special recognition and accomplishments and the promotion of current faculty members with similar honors. The benefits of becoming a “distinguished academic rank” range from being granted tenure to a full professorship title.

Sen. Susan Roxburgh said that this policy has been discussed in Faculty Senate for more than a year, and said she liked that it created lively discussion Monday.

“It’s not normal for this group,” Roxburgh said. “But it’s normal in a democracy that’s vibrant where there are a lot of different perspectives. So to me, it was perfectly appropriate, and it resulted in a better document than the one that was supposed to be to compromise.”

The last Faculty Senate conversation held about this policy in January caused a spirited debate and ultimately led Provost Robert Frank, accompanied by other administrators, to walk out of the senate meeting.

The Provost and Faculty Senators disagreed on the exact procedure of approving distinguished ranks.

While Provost Frank did not stay at Monday’s meeting to hear the results of the vote, the policy will have to pass through his office before it can be shown to the Board of Trustees.

“The important thing is to recognize that the policy itself is in response to a directive in the collective bargaining agreement that expires quite soon,” Roxburgh said. “The reason that it’s in the collective bargaining agreement is because both sides agreed that was something that needed to be remedied. And so various iterations that produced a policy that is what the provost wanted take the teeth out of a new policy for which there was already an agreement that there was a need for it.”

Sen. Paul Farrell said he hopes this will be the end of discussions for this particular policy.

“We’d like to think what we’ve passed will meet his core needs and will still satisfy most of our core needs, too,” Farrell said.

Click here to see what Faculty Senate revised.

Contact Britni Williams at [email protected].