Updates on Impact of Executive Orders and Federal Actions and Promotion and Tenure Reviews

Dear Colleagues,

We write today to share some updates related to the impact of executive orders and federal actions, as well as some modifications of protocols surrounding promotion and tenure reviews.

Since the start of the spring 2025 semester, faculty members across the university may have experienced disruption to their research, teaching, and service activities due to some of the recent White House Executive Orders and federal actions. Faculty research could be impacted in various ways: stop-work orders to federal grants; inability to access datasets or databases housed in or sponsored by federal agencies; or challenges in travel to present their work at national or international conferences supported by federal funds. 

Also, there may have been potential impacts on the faculty’s ability to hire students and staff to support their research using federal support. In other instances, faculty members’ community-engaged scholarship, teaching, and service may have been severely impacted due to programs being curtailed in both the public and private sectors and due to lack of resources to conduct the work. Faculty whose scholarship and teaching could be categorized as diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) may have to spend considerable time navigating the current political climate in the process of conducting and publishing their work.

 

To address the potential impact of recent executive orders and federal actions related to research funding, curtailment or termination of DEIA initiatives, and related topics on faculty’s research, teaching, and service, the following protocol will be put in place beginning in academic year 2025 – 2026 faculty promotion and tenure (P&T) reviews. These modifications will be communicated to each level of P&T review through the provost’s annual P&T instructions, through the deans’ instructions for the development of letters to external reviewers, through the provost’s charge to the University Faculty Review Committee, and in deliberations made by department promotion and tenure committees.

 

1. If there have been any impacts on their research, teaching and/or service as a result of the executive orders and federal actions, candidates for P&T review are encouraged to reflect on such impacts in their self-assessment.

 

If the candidate mentions impacts in their self-evaluation: 

 

2. Every level of review, including outside reviewers, must consider the described impact of such executive orders and federal actions on the usual progression of our faculty towards promotion and tenure when evaluating both the work performed during this period of disruption and their potential as a scholar after promotion and/or tenure when performing on- and off-campus activities.

 

3. Each level of review must include a Statement of Affirmation that their review, and all previous levels of review, has taken into full consideration the impact of executive orders and federal actions beginning in 2025 on the candidate’s progression. 

 

 

If it is determined that any prior level of review has failed to do so in a way that may have resulted in negative consequences for the candidate, the current level of review shall inform the provost in their own report.

 

4. All letters providing guidance to external reviewers must include the following statement regarding the impact of executive orders and federal actions on P&T recommendations. 

 

This statement recognizes the impact that current executive orders and federal actions might have on the research, teaching, and service of faculty going up for promotion and tenure.

 

This policy applies to the academic year 2025 – 2026 review cycle. The Office of the Provost will provide additional guidance for any promotion and tenure modifications in subsequent cycles as the impact of the executive orders and federal actions evolve. 

Sincerely,