Need to know what to say to colleague when he is denied tenure next week

[quercus]

I have a junior colleague who is almost certain to be denied tenure next week. It is going to come as a shock to him, I think. By the numbers, on paper, he looks as good or better than candidates who have received tenure at our SLAC.

There are weaknesses throughout his case but the big fail is service/collegiality. He has never pulled his weight on a whole host of service and teaching commitments that are important to the dept and the institution's mission. He has even outright refused to do some of them. This has led to resentment from the other faculty who are left picking up the slack.

He has ignored everything from hints and nudges to formal written evaluations urging him to improve in this area. I think he has been getting bad advice from his R1 colleagues about focusing solely on research and not getting bogged down with service and student demands. He's also a bit toxic/narcissistic and not inclined to perceive his failings in areas he doesn't care about (community, institutional mission, social justice).

I'm in his department (and his subfield) but also sit on the highest upper-level committee that reviewed his case, and the consensus that he is borderline/untenurable is pervasive at all levels. (We don't do up-or-down votes; we rate candidates on a 10-pt scale in all three areas.) Since he's 99% likely to get denied and 100% clueless about why, I'm prepping now. What kinds of things would be useful to say?

My goals are:

* be compassionate and understanding
* be truthful
* be careful about confidentiality (which probably means only talking about my own personal opinion of his case and nothing else)

For those who have navigated this situation in their departments before, what can I say that would be helpful to him? I honestly think what he needs to do is sit down with all his annual P&T reviews and see the signposts that were there...but I'm not sure this is helpful. I also think he should get a jump on figuring out his next steps and getting a new job...but again, I'm not sure this is helpful to say.

For anyone who has been denied, what would it be helpful to hear?

Ugh, is there ANYTHING helpful to say in this situation? I am dreading everything about this.

[marshwiggle]

I have a junior colleague who is almost certain to be denied tenure next week. It is going to come as a shock to him, I think. By the numbers, on paper, he looks as good or better than candidates who have received tenure at our SLAC.

There are weaknesses throughout his case but the big fail is service/collegiality. He has never pulled his weight on a whole host of service and teaching commitments that are important to the dept and the institution's mission. He has even outright refused to do some of them. This has led to resentment from the other faculty who are left picking up the slack.

He has ignored everything from hints and nudges to formal written evaluations urging him to improve in this area. I think he has been getting bad advice from his R1 colleagues about focusing solely on research and not getting bogged down with service and student demands. He's also a bit toxic/narcissistic and not inclined to perceive his failings in areas he doesn't care about (community, institutional mission, social justice).

I'm in his department (and his subfield) but also sit on the highest upper-level committee that reviewed his case, and the consensus that he is borderline/untenurable is pervasive at all levels. (We don't do up-or-down votes; we rate candidates on a 10-pt scale in all three areas.) Since he's 99% likely to get denied and 100% clueless about why, I'm prepping now. What kinds of things would be useful to say?

My goals are:

* be compassionate and understanding
* be truthful
* be careful about confidentiality (which probably means only talking about my own personal opinion of his case and nothing else)

For those who have navigated this situation in their departments before, what can I say that would be helpful to him? I honestly think what he needs to do is sit down with all his annual P&T reviews and see the signposts that were there...but I'm not sure this is helpful. I also think he should get a jump on figuring out his next steps and getting a new job...but again, I'm not sure this is helpful to say.

For anyone who has been denied, what would it be helpful to hear?

Ugh, is there ANYTHING helpful to say in this situation? I am dreading everything about this.

Seems to me you've pretty much identified what he needs to hear. Those aren't borderline judgement calls; that behaviour is pretty deliberately non-collegial.

[polly_mer]

The time to have had the useful chat was at the third year review and at every annual review when the behavior could still change in time to matter.

At this point, the helpful advice is:

* tenure is a job evaluation at one institution, not a judgment on the absolute worth of a person.

* getting denied tenure for not doing certain tasks is information on what kind of job the next job should be.  Someone who loves research and is meh on teaching should apply to research jobs only or at least not teaching jobs.

* colleagues in the field can be helpful with the network to frame the narrative as "great researcher who was a poor fit for this one job".

The positive spin is a year to find that next job that is a better fit.  Definitely focus on getting started on the job search instead of trying to get him to admit being uncollegial.

[clean]

Im hearing this sage advice when I read these posts:
"if you dont have anything nice to say, dont say anything at all".

IF you are able to write a letter of reference, offer, but I dont think that you can say anything that would help.

In my experience, those that were denied tenure actually moved on to a better fit elsewhere. Very few people retire from the place that first hired them, so this is just part of the sorting that goes on. Hopefully, though he was successful doing the research that he focused on.  Some place will value that if the current place did not.  That is the best good thing that you can say.  Being denied tenure does not necessarily mean that he is a bad fit, but just a bad fit for THIS place. 

Also, In my experience, the university will be a better place without him.  He didnt share the institution's values and didnt pull his weight. Find someone that does! 

Finally, IF you were not communicative with him earlier, there is no real reason to be his buddy now.  IF he asks 'what went wrong', you can list his shortcomings that led to his dismissal THERE and suggest that he be more careful about those issues when picking the next employer, or be more conscience of these areas at his next job.

You might add, 'there is no Service track to tenure, but you must do enough so that coworkers think that you will pull your own weight and be a benefit and not a burden to the department."

In summary, dont treat him any differently than you have in the last year.  If you were close, stay close. If you were not close, there is no need to do so now!

Good luck.

[Ruralguy]

Treat him normally. Refer him to the committee chair or the Dean for more details. I don't really think it is your role to explain these details. Never ever say "who said what" in a committee meeting, that's for sure.
If he asks how you voted, just say "we reached a consensus based on the details you see in your letter."
Of course then, there have to be details. if later he wants job advice or something like that, just give it like you would give to anyone else.

[Cheerful]

It is going to come as a shock to him, I think.

That's the saddest, most troubling element of the story you have shared. I don't know if that's his fault, your department's fault, or both.

Whatever might have been his human flaws, failings, mistakes, misunderstandings, or bad luck, may he be OK and find a better path ahead.

[Mobius]

You cannot console those who are "blindsided" about issues that they have been directed to address.

[Ruralguy]

And it's pretty easy to get yourself on some committee and just contribute without ever needing to do back breaking work.

[polly_mer]

And it's pretty easy to get yourself on some committee and just contribute without ever needing to do back breaking work.

Tell me more about those committee assignments because I have never had one of them.  I count myself lucky if I'm only contributing to one big ol' report per committee per year.

[tiva]

What kinds of things would be useful to say?

At most universities, you could not say a thing without violating committee rules. You can sympathize: "I'm so sorry you need to search for another job in this economy." But you cannot reveal anything about the committee decision making process. That's the dean's job (or possibly the chair's job). Seriously: don't say anything whatsoever about the reasons for the decision.

[pink_]

What kinds of things would be useful to say?

At most universities, you could not say a thing without violating committee rules. You can sympathize: "I'm so sorry you need to search for another job in this economy." But you cannot reveal anything about the committee decision making process. That's the dean's job (or possibly the chair's job). Seriously: don't say anything whatsoever about the reasons for the decision.

This.
You can sympathize. You can buy beer. But let the person who is responsible for delivering the news do their job.

[Ruralguy]

Polly,

We have more committee spots than faculty, so many people have two or three and
new faculty and retiring faculty generally have zero.

Though  in the past few years I chaired policy committees and  internal grant committees,
there are times I was on, say,  Benefits Committee or some other thing, which required meeting
and listening to HR and other administrators, but didn't have much outside work. Many new faculty
will sit on one or two committees like that, which is sufficient, though honestly, pre tenure, some can
probably chair anything but the most senior committees or those that are very busy or both.I figured many
colleges and universities, or depts. within them, have committees of varying levels of commitment, but I
could e wrong.

[Ruralguy]

In any case, it doesn't seem as if the colleague of the OP really even did perfunctory service, but we don't know the details

[polly_mer]

Polly,

We have more committee spots than faculty, so many people have two or three and
new faculty and retiring faculty generally have zero.

Huh.  In contrast, I've always been assured that new faculty have zero committee assignments for the first year or two, but then an apologetic dean will contact me in the first week and explain my assignment as the science rep on whatever.

Somehow, I've never been on a listening committee anywhere I've worked.

I've been on Education Licensure committee tasked with ensuring our aspiring teachers can indeed get a license in the fields they want.

I've been on gen ed (ensured we had annual reports to show the HLC we assessed student learning and made changes based on assessment).

I've been on assessment (ensured that the annual reports from every program including gen ed closed the loop on observed gaps).

I've been on the college accreditation committee to ensure we had a report to the HLC.

I've been on the "make commencement activities not suck so bad" committee.

I've been on the "how do we retain STEM students without lowering standards" committee.

I've been on the "what do we do about math/composition without lowering standards" committees at various times.

I've been in the ABET compliance committee to ensure we had a passing report for ABET.

I've been on the academic program prioritization committee with a short timeline.

I've been on the "oh, crap, the only people in the region who know we exist have such a low opinion of us that we can't place interns anywhere" committee.

I've been on the "we need to convince HLC in the next three months that we have a viable strategic plan when the senior administrators told them we don't have one" committee.

I've been on the "going to the HLC star chamber to prevent a show cause order" committee.

I've been part of the "ensuring our courses meet the state articulation agreement guidelines" committee.

I've been the provost's rep to the curriculum committee to ensure that actions occurred in a timely manner, even if the action was rejection with actionable feedback.

I was presiding officer for the faculty senate as a second-year faculty member because senior people played Not It.

I have lost track of how many hiring committees starting as the grad student rep.

Years ago before I was faculty, I attended an APS workshop for aspiring faculty that kept hammering the message to stay off the parking committee because you can't make anyone happy.  I have to wonder if I should have been asking to be on the laid-back parking committee where only some people were annoyed instead chairing the committees on which no one wanted to serve and which angered nearly everyone.

[quercus]

At this point, the helpful advice is:

* tenure is a job evaluation at one institution, not a judgment on the absolute worth of a person.

* getting denied tenure for not doing certain tasks is information on what kind of job the next job should be.  Someone who loves research and is meh on teaching should apply to research jobs only or at least not teaching jobs.

* colleagues in the field can be helpful with the network to frame the narrative as "great researcher who was a poor fit for this one job".

The positive spin is a year to find that next job that is a better fit.  Definitely focus on getting started on the job search instead of trying to get him to admit being uncollegial.

Thanks, polly, this is extremely useful.

Also thanks to those of you mentioning that it is not my job to deliver details about the "why." (Thank goodness.) But if *god forbid* I'm asked, what do I say? What if the question is, "Did you personally think I wasn't doing enough xxx?" or even "Do you personally agree that I should have been denied?" These are the questions I'm dreading. Not sure if it's OK to answer. Would love some ideas for circumventing this conversation without being a dick about it.

Maybe there will be guidance from the chair on this, I don't know. We've never had a denial in my department.