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. View Kenyon's Civil Rights Policy.

2.1.1 Board of Trustees Statement

Approved May 1976, edit Oct. 2014, edit 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

Edited Aug. 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 Sept. 1993, edited Aug. 2010, October 2014, Sept. 2023

This document arises from the College's commitment to appointing and retaining a faculty of the highest quality. The principle of inclusive excellence is a fundamental value of hiring at Kenyon; the College 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. Request for approval to conduct a search

1. A description of the position for which a search is requested is submitted by the Department Chair or Program Director to the Provost as far in advance as is reasonably possible.
- a. For tenure-track positions, a detailed description with supporting evidence (e.g., arguments concerning staff size, curriculum, enrollment, interdisciplinary range) will already have been endorsed by RAS, the relevant subcommittee of the Executive Committee of the Faculty. The RAS guidelines for FTE allocation and reallocation establish the procedures for the committee’s approval.
- b. In the case of full-year sabbatical or leave without pay replacement, a brief statement of the need is generally sufficient. This statement should be submitted to the Provost. Visiting positions are not submitted to RAS.
2. After discussion with the Provost, the Department Chair or Program Director and the Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion you will receive authorization from the Provost or Associate Provost to prepare the job posting that will be placed on Kenyon’s employment sites. This authorization specifies rank and the character of the appointment (regular or visiting). Once such authorization is received, the search chair or department administrative assistant may add the job description into PageUp.

B. The Search Committee

1. For tenure-track appointments, the Department Chair or Program Director consults with the Provost before selecting the search committee; for visiting appointments, the Chair consults with the Associate Provost who will oversee the department or program search. The Department Chair or Program Director may choose to serve as chair of the search committee, but many departments prefer to have another member handle this responsibility. The Faculty places two requirements on the formation of each search committee. First, the committee must include at least three faculty members. Except in very unusual circumstances at least one of these faculty needs to be tenured. 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. The search committee will include at least one person of each gender.

C. Advertising the Position

1. The advertising copy must be approved by EEO and the Provost (for tenure-track positions) or the Associate Provost (for visiting positions) before placement. Such approval occurs ordinarily after the posting is constructed and submitted into the PageUp employment system; however, the search chair may submit a preliminary draft of the posting by a shared google doc to the EEO and the Provost/Associate Provost before submitting it in the PageUp system.
2. Openings for all full-time positions, visiting and regular, if at least one year's duration, will be advertised nationally, except as noted in #3 and #4 below.
- a. 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) statement that all applications must be submitted electronically.
- b. Ordinarily, ad placement will include but not be limited to graduate schools, professional journals or newsletters, field specific publications, electronic listservs and publications such as the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed. All postings should remain open until filled but should include a start date to review applicants.
3. 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 deadline may be more immediate. (See part-time/very late visiting search schedule for these searches)
4. For positions of no more than one year in duration the Provost or Associate Provost may, at the request of the department and in consultation with EEO, 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 or program and the College are already familiar.

D. Conducting the Search Prior to Campus Visits

1. In all searches, the search committee chair and administrative assistant of the department in which the appointment is to be made will meet with the Provost, the Associate Provost, and the Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at a workshop to review hiring procedures and discuss strategies for ensuring success in the search. At this meeting special issues relevant to searches (e.g., recruitment strategies, make up of the candidate pool, anticipated start up costs, facilities needs, administrative support, and procedures for equal opportunity monitoring) will be identified.
2. Recruitment and preliminary screening interviews may be conducted either remotely or in-person at professional meetings. Search committees (including outside member) should make a clear plan for how they intend to conduct these interviews before they make decisions regarding which candidates they would like to interview.
3. 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 #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 (see E -1-3 below) and the "Protocol for Searches with Internal Candidates," (available from the Provost and the Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion).
4. After screening interviews, the search chair needs to bulk move the top 10 candidates into the application status of “top 10 candidates” and rank each of the top 10 candidates and provide rationale for that ranking. The EEO will then review the online dossiers of the top 10 candidates as well as others. Allow at least three (3) business days for review; the Provost or the Associate Provost must give approval to invite candidates to campus before any visits are scheduled and arrangements made.

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. The Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will review the list of the top 10 candidates as well as the top 25, the Provost or the Associate Provost may ask the search committee to reconsider its ranking in light of the conversation.
5. In consultation with the Chair and the Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, 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 their top 10 rankings. 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 that one of the top three be replaced by a candidate from lower down on the list.
6. When making housing arrangements for out of town candidates during the interview process it is normally preferred that people use the Kenyon Inn as their first choice in finding housing accommodations for job candidates since it is a College-owned hotel.

E. The On-Campus Interviews

1. During on-campus visits, interviews with candidates will be scheduled for: 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.
2. The search chair should be sensitive to the need for, or the appropriateness of scheduling meetings with other faculty/community members that might include: members of cognate departments; women faculty members for female candidates; underrepresented faculty for underrepresented candidates; or any other groups that the candidate requests. An inquiry should be made at the time of making the invitation if there are any representatives from the campus community at large that the candidate would like to meet.
3. During an on-campus visit candidates will be expected to teach and conduct a teaching presentation (or sample class) and make a presentation that demonstrates their scholarly/research/artistic interests and talents.
- a. 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 or Associate Provost.
- b. The professional presentation will be announced to the campus via email and 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

1. When on-campus interviews have been completed, the chair of the search committee should seek and receive assessments from all department members and the students. 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.
2. The Search Committee Chair confers with the Provost (tenure track search) or Associate Provost (visiting search) prior to the search committee’s final deliberation meeting to select the person to be recommended for hire. Schedule meeting so as to allow sufficient time after the last campus visit for discussion to occur; neither the Provost nor the Associate Provost is likely to be available upon short notice.
3. The Search Committee meets to deliberate. The Chair brings copy of the job posting to meeting and reminds committee of the stated qualifications as well as any agreements reached as to weighting of preferred qualifications (e.g. “Ph.D preferred,” value assigned to “degree in hand” vs “ABD;” “experience in___ especially attractive,” etc.). The Chair is to record any such weighting employed in assessing candidates as well as the reasons for ranking the candidates who were interviewed on campus.
4. After the committee has considered all of the advice it has received, the search committee chair notifies the Provost or Associate Provost of the committee’s ranking of the top 3-4 candidates with a recommendation of hire. The Provost or the Associate Provost will discuss with the search chair the recommended candidates and authorize a hire. At this point the search chair will move the campus visit candidates 3-4 from the “top 10 candidates” status to “On Campus Interview” status and provide a rational and ranking status in PageUp.