University at Buffalo (UB)
In making decisions so important to the university and the individual faculty member, the various review bodies must provide full and fair consideration of each case. In order to assure this, the candidates must have an opportunity to designate an advocate of his or her choice.
II.C.4.a.1. An advocate may be designated by the candidate at the start of the review process, or at a subsequent stage as indicated later, if the candidate believes that the case will be strengthened or more fully presented through use of an advocate.
II.C.4.a.2. The advocate must be a faculty member at the university or at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, must be from the department or discipline of the candidate, and must have direct personal knowledge of the candidate's professional and academic performance. Faculty members holding administrative titles in an academic unit or at the provostal, vice presidential, or the presidential levels may not act as advocate. However, no member of the faculty acting as advocate may be excluded from normal participation in personnel actions, except that participation in discussion or voting as a member of a subsequent review body when it is considering the candidate's case is prohibited.
II.C.4.a.3. Review proceedings are not adversarial hearings or bargaining sessions. The advocate's task is not to attack the dossier or the judgment of prior levels of review, but to present the case for the candidate and to explain the candidate's work, contribution, and promise, and to point out to the review bodies and/or administrative officers the material or information in the dossier that would be especially helpful in evaluating the candidate's achievements and promise.
II.C.4.a.4. The advocate shall submit a written statement that addresses only the quality and impact of the candidate's academic work, professional growth and contributions, and promise for further development in these areas. The advocate may not add letters of evaluation to the dossier or include such letters in the statement. However, the advocate may, in the statement, suggest expert evaluators highly qualified to review the candidate's work. The statement shall be added to the dossier and shall follow the chair's letter transmitting the dossier.
II.C.4.a.5. Advocates must adhere to the rules on confidentiality. Since advocates may have access to confidential material not available to the candidate, they must avoid disclosure of confidential material to the candidate.
II.C.4.a.6. In addition to submitting a written statement, the advocate may make an oral statement to the unit review bodies and to the provost, but not to the President's Review Board. The advocate may not question review body members or participate in debate.
II.C.4.b.1. If the candidate chooses to designate an advocate at the outset of the process, the decision and designation must be made known early enough for the advocate's written statement to accompany the dossier at the start of departmental consideration.
II.C.4.b.2. Any administrative officer below the provost who recommends against the personnel action in question during the process must so notify the candidate in writing at the time they make the recommendation, and, if an advocate has not previously been designated, must advise the candidate of their right to designate an advocate within seven working days thereafter.
II.C.4.b.3. The provost shall inform candidates by letter of a negative recommendation of the PRB within seven working days after receipt of the report of the President's Review Board, and shall advise the candidate of the right to designate an advocate if one has not been designated previously. All advocacy proceedings, including the submission of any additional letters or documents, must be concluded prior to the dossier being forwarded by the provost to the president. The advocacy process may not be invoked after the provost has made a recommendation to the president.