The reviews will be triggered by problems in a tenured professor's performance. A committee of peers will be able to suggest ways in which the professor can improve, but if those fail, a pay reduction is possible. The new code will allow pay cuts to be made in a particular college or across the university. But the pay cuts would be subject to faculty approval. The new code will allow the university to reassign and retrain faculty members if their departments or programs are eliminated.
Professors can appeal the reassignments.
The only way a professor could be disciplined under the old tenure code was to be fired for cause. The new policy provides for disciplinary actions short of that, such as a letter of reprimand. The proposed policy on layoffs was left out of the new code. Initially, the regents felt that it was necessary, to enable the university to respond to change. But administrators said they did not need a new layoff policy, because many positions will open up as professors retire in coming years.