A proposed change to UF's regulations that would have given the university more control over who it lays off has been tabled until the fall after a unanimous Faculty Senate vote on Friday.
The senate voted to ask UF to postpone the proposal until next semester, when more faculty will be on campus to consider the issue. Though the vote wasn't binding, UF obliged.
The new regulation would have changed the definition of a layoff unit, which came under contention recently when two laid-off professors were reinstated after successfully challenging UF's interpretation of the unit.
Currently, a unit targeted for layoffs can be no smaller than a department.
This was determined by an arbitrator who ruled against the university in March in the case of assistant professor Andrea Pham. The arbitrator ruled UF improperly laid off Pham because it was attempting to eliminate the Vietnamese program, in which Pham was the only professor.
Because the program is smaller than a department, it was found not to be an acceptable layoff unit.
Czech studies assistant professor Hana Filip was reinstated less than a week after UF decided the reasons for her layoff were similar.
Referring to these two cases, UF Provost Joe Glover told senators at Friday's meeting that, though UF doesn't have the ability to eliminate one language in a department, he thinks it should have that right.
Paula Fussell, interim vice president for UF's Human Resource Services, said the proposed changes clarified UF's layoff rules and would give UF more curriculum control.
"If we have to make cuts, we wanna make sure that… we make them in the most strategic areas and we keep the things that are strategic to our future," she said.
The changes, if passed, would not affect faculty in the faculty union, the United Faculty of Florida. Fussell said UF seeks a similar change in its contract with the union. John Biro, president of UF's chapter of the union, said he couldn't comment specifically on the proposed changes because of ongoing negotiations, but said, "Rules such as these proposed ones would not be acceptable to the faculty union."
Proposed changes to UF's layoff policies that are still on the table include modifications to the manner in which staff can be laid off. Instead of only considering employment length at UF and performance evaluations, UF will now be able to consider other factors, like skill and education, Fussell said.
The changes are posted at regulations.ufl.edu, where they will be open for comment until May 27. The Board of Trustees, UF's highest governing body, will vote on the changes, most likely in June.
