Tenure violation—breach on contract?
Location: PA
Looking for advice/resources on employment law pertaining to university tenure violations.
There are three levels of review at my institution: division (equivalent to dept.), college, and university.
In a bizarre twist, my division committee—who are typically expected to advocate for the applicant—went out of their way to take as negative a view as possible and to vote against my tenure. Even weirder, *literally everyone else* voted FOR it. My Division Head and college committee rejected the division committee’s flawed reasoning and unanimously recommended tenure. My five external letters were “glowing.”
The Chancellor (who has been in the position only a few years) was more concerned with cutting a tenure line and saving money than with the merit of my case and preemptively decided to reject my tenure bid. To do so, Chancellor then blatantly violated policy by meeting with me before consulting the college committee as required by policy, then arranging a meeting with them the following day and attempting to deceive them into thinking he had not met with me. (I learned about the from a college committee member who was told by a friend that I had replied to an updated title/bio request in the disciplinary listserv that I’d been informed of my termination a few hours prior. The Chancellor was caught by surprise when the committee member asked why he’d already met with me when the policy required consultation first.)
The Chancellor’s intention to permit the college committee to think that he gave their arguments appropriate thought suggests he knew his conclusion was unfair, and I suspect he assumed that I would keep quiet and the College Committee would conclude I was denied at the university level. I have initiated a grievance petition through our University Senate, but their recommendation goes to the Vice Provost that the Chancellor claims excused the policy violation as immaterial.
Wouldn’t knowingly violating policy constitute a breach of contract? I hate the idea of threatening legal action, but I have little faith in the administration. The now Vice-Chancellor solemnly promised that financial concerns would not affect tenure decisions, but said don’t know why else the Chancellor would side with 3 nos over 11 yeses. I don’t want to disrupt anyone’s life or make enemies, but this would end my academic career and require uprooting my young kids and relocating. I have a hard time letting go of things that seem so blatantly unfair anyhow, but this is threatening my kids’ wellbeing, so I am willing to tear it all down if I can save them the pain.