Yale's tenure and promotion deliberations are confidential. This confidentiality enables faculty members to have open and honest exchanges that help ensure deliberations of the highest quality, which is in the best interest of the faculty member under consideration, the department, and the University. Preserving confidentiality not only allows the university to carry out its work, but also it is the law. Connecticut law protects employee records, including those that relate to promotion and hiring.
Faculty participating in tenure and promotion cases also must maintain the confidentiality of the content of department deliberations. Communication about the content of formal deliberations, the “gist” of discussions (even without attributions of specific comments to particular sources), the identity of letter writers, the content of referees’ letters, or information about the vote (other than whether it was affirmative or negative) represents a breach in confidentiality. There is no time limit for this confidentiality.
Chairs serve as the only spokespeople for their departments. They or their official designees are the sole means to convey to candidates decisions made by the department or the promotions committee and the reasons for those decisions. Department members should direct any questions about the deliberations or materials for a case to the department chair.