The University of Idaho Faculty Senate discussed amendments to the draft of the post-tenure review policy to be in accordance with Idaho State Board of Education requirements and federal Title II regulations regarding accessibility for online course content.
The Title II accessibility compliance presentation was given by Margie Pinnell, director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, and Diane Kelly-Riley, vice provost for the UI Faculty Senate.
A new ruling for Title II, the Americans with Disabilities Act, states that all web content on Canvas and other digital platforms must be accessible to all students by April 2026. The elements discussed as places to improve accessibility for UI were colorblindness and dyslexia.
UI faculty raised concerns about the task being daunting, specifically to those with course remediation and other technical barriers. Kelly-Riley and Pinnell responded that there are support structures in place to help professors transition to new standards such as instructional designers and student assistants. Additionally, Kelly-Riley and Pinnell reassured the law’s intent is to improve the overall design of accessibility and not meant to burden university faculty.
A new policy from the ISBoE requires periodic post-tenure review to be performed for all faculty. The senate reviewed and voted on each policy individually.
An amendment was made to the document about five-year lookback tenure reports so that if faculty have four satisfactory annual reviews, the next year’s post-tenure review will default to satisfactory unless clear evidence is provided to prove otherwise. The UI Senate focused on fairness and transparent standards. The senate meeting lasted for two hours due to the fact that Senate Chair Tim Murphy said it was necessary to finalize this policy before the next Senate meeting to avoid administrative override.
A motion passed to postpone any further amendments to the next meeting and to discuss the post-tenure review as the first agenda item for the Faculty Senate meeting on Nov. 18.
Murphy gave the chair’s report detailing the University Faculty Meeting on Dec. 3 and reminded participants of the upcoming Senate meeting schedule.
The Faculty Senate will meet every Tuesday throughout the fall semester to discuss academic policy and campus-wide events. Meeting agendas and minutes are available through the UI Faculty Senate website.
Scarlet Herway can be reached at [email protected].