Affirmative Action Office
Recruitment Policy and Procedures
Affirmative Action Main Page | Recruitment Form | Data Collection Form
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Introduction
SUNY Fredonia is committed to providing equal opportunity in employment by prohibiting employment discrimination because of age, color, disability, marital status, national origin, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and veteran's status.
Fredonia, moreover, has a commitment to the principles of affirmative action, which, for recruitment purposes, entail positive ongoing efforts to achieve a representative workforce of women and minorities in all offices and departments. Affirmative action in hiring is required of all New York State agencies, but for SUNY campuses affirmative action in hiring is not only state policy; it is good educational practice.
Institutions of higher education have a special responsibility to provide their students with diverse faculty and staff who not only bring unique and valuable perspectives to their disciplines, but also provide students with different models and mentors. Students of the State University at Fredonia must interact with diverse faculty and staff as part of their preparation for an increasingly racially and ethnically diverse world of work.
Fredonia is well aware of the desirability of diversifying its workforce by criteria other than race, ethnicity or gender. This Recruitment Policy, however, does not speak to this further diversification, but only to that diversity mandated by federal and state affirmative action regulations.
In all stages of the recruitment process, therefore, faculty and staff entrusted with recruiting responsibilities shall strive to fulfill this university goal. Throughout the recruitment process affirmative action shall be a criterion for the evaluation of applicants and candidates. At every step of the search process we need to ensure that persons with ethnic and gender diversity are present. All decision makers will be guided by the principle that whenever candidates appear equally qualified for a position; the candidate whose hiring will contribute most to the achievement of the university's affirmative action goals shall be selected.
Extent of Policy
This recruitment policy applies to all searches for full-time (temporary and term), faculty and professional staff positions.
Adjunct Faculty
While searches are not required for part-time faculty, special efforts should be made when minorities and women are underutilized in the department involved to identify and appoint protected class candidates. (Periodically, the university shall place advertisements in area newspapers to augment its pool of adjunct faculty applicants.)
Assistant/Associate Chairpersons
When a department is seeking to appoint a member of the department as assistant or associate chairperson, the position shall be announced to all eligible members and affirmative action should be a consideration in the selection.
Temporary Appointments
In cases when a comprehensive search is not possible, a more limited recruitment effort may be made to fill the position with a temporary appointment. If the position is filled without a comprehensive search, a full affirmative action search shall be completed in the usual manner during the following academic year before the position is filled with a more stable appointment.
Before any temporary appointment can evolve into a tenure track appointment, a comprehensive search is required.
Search Procedures
- Beginning a Search: Authorization to Recruit
The formal phase of the recruitment process begins when the department/office receives authorization to recruit.
- Initiating the Search Process
Once a department has been authorized to recruit, the department chairperson or director of hiring department may obtain the Recruitment Form from the Office of Affirmative Action or website at www.fredonia.edu/aaoffice/recrform.htm.
Complete Parts (A through D) of the Recruitment Form and forward it for approval as indicated.
Prior to any recruitment efforts, the appropriate vice president or dean and the affirmative action officer shall approve the recruitment form. One or more representatives of the search committee shall meet with the affirmative action officer to discuss recruitment strategies early in the search process.
Advertising
All ads must contain the following statement: "An affirmative action/equal opportunity employer, SUNY Fredonia encourages and actively seeks applications from minorities, women, and people with disabilities."
- Receiving Applications (Parts E & F)
All applications shall be acknowledged in writing by the search committee chair. An Affirmative Action Data Collection Card, available on request from the Affirmative Action Office, shall be mailed with each acknowledgment. Applicants will be encouraged to return these forms to the Affirmative Action Office for review and compilation. The search committee chair should contact the affirmative action officer frequently to ascertain the diversity of the applicant pool.
- Candidates to be Interviewed (Part G)
Candidates are those applicants who are recommended by the search committee for campus interview. When the search committee has narrowed the applicant pool and is ready to invite candidates to campus, the department administrator shall route the search folders containing their curriculum vitae/resumes, and the completed Recruitment Form to the appropriate dean, vice president and the affirmative action officer. This list should identify characteristics of Tiers I, II and III candidates.
The vice president or dean shall consult with the affirmative action officer and respond to the department administrator within at least 48 hours. As part of this consultation, the affirmative action officer will determine if affirmative action policies and procedures have been followed, and this determination is required in order to invite candidates for an interview.
- Offer of Employment
Before a verbal or written offer is made to the recommended candidate, the department administrator or the chair of the search committee shall contact the vice president/dean who shall consult with the affirmative action officer to verify that all affirmative action procedures have been followed. The verbal offer cannot be made without the approval of the vice president/dean. These approvals will be given within a 48 hour period.
After the vice president/dean and department administrator agree to extend an offer of appointment, the offer should be made promptly, usually by the department administrator. The vice president/dean shall be consulted regarding any negotiations or contract demands which could affect a candidate's decision to accept the verbal offer. Any special conditions to be negotiated such as, salary, workload, work schedule, or resource expectations should be clearly defined in writing and have the approval of the vice president/dean.
- Formal Appointment Letter
The official appointment is made in writing by the university president, or in cases of continuing appointment by the Chancellor of the University. Appointment letters are prepared for the president's signature in the Human Resources Office.
- Notification of Applicants/Candidates
After the position has been filled, the department administrator or search committee chair shall inform all remaining candidates promptly of the status of the search.
- Reopening the Search
A decision to extend a search will only be made after consultation with the vice president/dean.
Exceptions to the Search Process
The Affirmative Action Committee affirms the general policy that, whenever possible, full open affirmative action searches be conducted for all faculty and non-teaching professional positions, including administrative and management/confidential positions. Under this policy, search waivers will be considered exceptions and will be judged on the merits of each situation according to these guidelines.
It is important to distinguish between those situations where it is advisable to waive a full national search and those where even a local limited search would be waived.
- A first necessary criteria to apply to a search waiver request is the principle of "utilization of minorities and females." In areas and/or departments of the campus where minorities and females are significantly under-utilized, search waiver requests should be reviewed first in relation to this under-utilization.
- When the position must be filled in less than 60 days from the beginning of the period when the normal duties of the position would begin, a national search may be waived. These situations would occur only when death, illness, disability, or a last-minute resignation causes a position to be vacant. In the case of resignation, the resignation must have been submitted and dated within the less-than-60-days period.
- A local search should usually be conducted, even in emergency situations, in order to insure that an attempt to meet affirmative action guidelines be made in every case.
- There will always be an opportunity to fill positions on an "acting" or temporary basis; however, in every case, "acting" or not, according to the affirmative action guidelines of the documents mentioned above, an appropriate affirmative action search during the year following the appointment must be conducted for every term appointment.
- There should be opportunity to waive searches that might be non-productive; for instance, in a case where the salary level of the position is so low that a national search might not be likely to turn up qualified candidates. However, in all such cases, at least a campus search and local area search should be conducted in an effort to reach all possible minority and female candidates.
If affirmative action goals would be enhanced by a search waiver, especially if a minority person or a female is already in the position, the request for a search waiver should usually be granted, and the "under-utilization" principle should be a factor in making the decision.
Where the person already occupying a position is not a minority member or female and a search waiver request is made, then the waiver should be granted only in the "uniquely qualified" phrase mentioned in the guideline documents apply. Such cases would probably be rare, but it is necessary to provide some opportunity for the person who is not a minority member or a female and who is hired in an emergency situation to have the job protected if that person is doing the job exceptionally well. It should be reiterated, however, that even in emergency situations, positions should be filled if at all possible by searching for qualified minority and female candidates in order to eliminate to the greatest extent possible search waiver requests when the position comes up for more stable appointment.
Recognizing the desirability of maintaining opportunity for "promotion from within," one reason for a search waiver might be where there is chance for such a promotion on this campus. In such cases, a full national search might well be waived and also even a local beyond-the-campus search. However, we suggest that for every position which becomes open on this campus where the possibility of promotion exists, the complete staff on campus be searched for every possible candidate among minorities and women who might be eligible and/or qualified for such promotion and that announcement of the vacancy be made campus-wide. This should especially apply to short-range temporary periods in administrative areas which would provide minority candidates and women with opportunity for learning administrative skills.
When the situation is one of reorganization (a reassignment of duties and changing responsibilities or when a new president wants a chance to put together a staff according to his/her working style) the following should apply:
- When the reorganization is simply reassigning duties to the same personnel and no new positions are created, a search is not required.
- Where a new position is created, an appropriate search is required.
For every request for a search waiver, a spokesperson may attend the meeting at which the waiver is discussed in order to speak on behalf of the person for whom the waiver is requested. Where possible, that spokesperson should be the person making the waiver request-that is, the administrator involved.
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