On September 21, 2017, the Emory AAUP chapter passed this resolution:

Whereas Emory University’s faculty handbook or “Gray Book” begins with an affirmation of the importance of job security for the academic freedom of all faculty as laid out in the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure (authored by the American Association of University Professors and endorsed by leading higher education institutions throughout the country);

Whereas that statement, according to the Gray Book, “emphasizes that to ensure maximum effectiveness, faculty members should have security adequate for freedom to teach and seek the truth” which “includes security of position after a reasonable period of probation, income commensurate with professional attainments, and assurance of explicit contract”;

Whereas passages in the body of the Gray Book deny this freedom to a substantial and growing portion of faculty, namely those with “limited” appointments, many of whom spend decades teaching at Emory; and

Whereas Emory University has otherwise been a leader in integrating all faculty into the educational and public service missions of the University;

We affirm the 1940 statement’s call that following “the expiration of a probationary period,” teachers and researchers should have permanent or continuous employment, “and their service should be terminated only for adequate cause…or under extraordinary circumstances because of financial exigencies.”

We further affirm the AAUP specification that “with the exception of special appointments clearly limited to a brief association with the institution, and reappointments of retired faculty members on special conditions,” all faculty appointments whether tenure-track, lecture-track, or otherwise are either: (1) probationary appointments of roughly seven years or (2) post-review appointments with continuous employment.

We call on the University Administration and faculty to work actively to close any loopholes that deny the very “security adequate for freedom to teach and seek the truth” that the Gray Book promises to those faculty who are currently designated “limited appointment” faculty.