The Faculty Handbook Committee would like to propose revisions of Section 5, Faculty Benefits, and the deletion all Appendices. This commentary is offered to explain our reasoning for the proposal in Academic Senate Resolution 01/02-06 (attached).

The purpose of these changes is to delete language that need not appear in the Faculty Handbook because it duplicates other University rules and publications. As section 5-1 says, the USC Benefits Office issues these rules after consultation with the University Benefits Advisory Committee and the Senate Committee on the Faculty Environment. Benefits can be changed today without a Senate vote. To keep the current Handbook up to date, it would have to be revised to mirror each change emanating from another source. These cross-references were originally included at a time when the Handbook was considered the primary vehicle for getting information to faculty. Other publications and web sites now disseminate the most accurate current information. We could streamline the Handbook without any loss of rights.

Our revision of 5-1 would retain the opening statement that establishes programs of faculty benefits in general but delete details that are determined and disseminated elsewhere. Sections 5-2, which merely states current law, and 5-3, which informs professors of the Counseling Service, would be deleted. Those portions of Section 5-4 that establish the faculty’s right to tuition assistance to dependent children and spouses and specify that these benefits become fully vested after 15 years of equivalent full-time service would be retained, however, many of the specifics would be deleted. As part of the tuition assistance information, the content of Section 3-16, Candidacy for Degrees, was incorporated. Therefore, that section should be deleted.

Our revision would delete all the appendices, which are all available from alternatives sources. The University web site contains the Bylaws of the University (appendix 1), the Academic Senate Constitution and Bylaws (appendix 2), and a list of University Committees (appendix 3). The list of publications and offices to aid faculty in advising students (appendix 4) is available from the Student Affairs website. The AAUP statement on preventing conflicts of interest in government-sponsored research (appendix 5) is obsolete and will shortly be replaced by a new USC policy. Deletion of Appendix 5 requires the corresponding deletion of subsection 3-15 (A) (1), whose only purpose is a reference to Appendix 5. The remaining elements of 3-15 (A) will be renumbered.

Thank you for considering these proposals.

cc:   Martin L. Levine