MOU Regarding a General Set of Criteria for ‘Unacceptable’ Performance

September 12, 2017

Dear BGSU Faculty Colleagues:

The current CBA requires that each academic unit have an approved standard for “unacceptable” rating in its merit document (or an addendum to that document) prior to December 31, 2016 (Article 14, Section 5.3.1). The “unacceptable” rating is needed to fulfill other expectations of the current CBA in addition to the merit review process (i.e., Article 14, Section 5.3.1: Documenting a successful annual evaluation for NTTF with seven or more years of service; Article 31, Section 3.1: Events that may initiate the extraordinary review process). Although the Administration and BGSU-FA signed an MOU on December 16, 2016, to extend this deadline to March 15, 2017, there are still a number of academic units that do not have an approved standard for “unacceptable” rating.

Both parties agree that an approved definition of “unacceptable” performance is needed for the merit review process underway in the academic units as of August 31, 2017. In light of this, we have signed an MOU (“Regarding a General Set of Criteria for ‘Unacceptable’ Performance for Academic Units without an Approved Definition of ‘Unacceptable’ Performance”) on September 11, 2017, which applies only to those academic units that do not currently have an approved definition of “unacceptable” performance.

Bargaining Unit Faculty Members (BUFM), chairs/directors, and deans will evaluate each BUFM’s performance during AY 2016-2017 using the academic unit’s previously approved criteria for Merit. BUFM who receive a rating of “meets expectations” or better from unit faculty will be deemed to have performed at an “acceptable” level for the evaluation period.

Representatives from the University and BGSU-FA shall determine a general set of criteria for “unacceptable” performance by September 18, 2017, for these units to use for the AY 2016-2017 Merit evaluation. BUFM shall apply these criteria to the performance of any BUFM who did not “meet expectations” for performance during AY 2016-2017 to determine if they also performed at an “unacceptable” level. If this process determines that a BUFM’s performance was “unacceptable,” then policies outlined in Article 14, and, if applicable, Article 31, of the CBA shall be followed. 

Academic units and the University will continue working on developing approved Merit policies. Those policies approved by January 26, 2018, shall be applied to Merit evaluation for BUFM performance during AY 2017-2018, and shall be deemed not to violate Article 17, Section 11.2.4.

These procedures will be followed for Merit evaluation for BUFM performance during AY 2016-2017 and AY 2017-2018.

Please feel free to contact Phil Stinson (Phil.Stinson@BGSU-FA.org) or Bill Balzer (wbalzer@bgsu.edu) if you have questions.

This joint communication and the MOU will be archived on the Provost website.

Best wishes for a great fall semester.

Rodney K. Rogers, Ph.D.
Provost and Senior Vice President

David J. Jackson, Ph.D.
President, BGSU Faculty Association