The University of Alabama System trustees on Friday put every tenured professor on their three campuses under a five-year performance review with consequences for falling short and barred faculty senates from speaking for their universities.

The vote puts the state’s flagship system in line with the Alabama Legislature’s new tenure law weeks before it takes effect, and the system was never required to follow it.

The rules apply to the University of Alabama, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

In doing so, the system is implementing HB580, a higher education reform State Rep. Troy Stubbs (R-Wetumpka) and State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), carried through the Alabama Legislature this spring.

Trustees adopted the rules on their own authority, ahead of the law’s October 1 effective date. Chancellor Sid Trant presented the three items together, which were approved unanimously by trustees.

Trant said the changes reflect the system’s “commitment to student success, academic excellence and institutional accountability.”

“The measures before the Board today will further strengthen academic quality, support faculty development and productivity, and ensure our institutions remain focused on fulfilling their core teaching, research and service missions,” Trant said. “They are also consistent with HB 580, enacted by the state legislature earlier this year.”

Trant said the rules follow earlier board actions.

“These proposals build on recent Board actions, including the revision to Board Rule 302 overseeing executive searches and the Institutional Neutrality policy adopted in 2024,” he said.

The amended Board Rule 301 requires each tenured faculty member to undergo post-tenure review at least once every five years. The process includes peer review.

“The post-tenure review process is designed to ensure our faculty have support throughout the tenure process to be successful, but also, like all employees, includes consequences for unsatisfactory performance,” Trant said.

He said the review “provides an opportunity to recognize faculty contributions, identify opportunities for continued professional development, and address significant performance concerns if they arise.”

UAB held listening sessions on a proposed campus post-tenure review policy in April.

New Board Rule 513 states that faculty senates at the three campuses serve in an advisory capacity.

“Proposed Board Rule 513 codifies that faculty senates serve in an advisory capacity, which has been a longstanding practice at our institutions,” Trant said. “At the same time, the rule recognizes the important role faculty senates play in providing faculty perspective and insight into the academic mission and institutional operations.”

“The rule also makes clear that a faculty senate does not speak on behalf of the institution itself,” he said.

“This is consistent with our existing Institutional Neutrality policy, which applies to any collective body of UA System employees.”

The UA Faculty Senate has issued public statements on university decisions in recent years. In January, the senate condemned the university’s closure of two student publications, Alice Magazine and Nineteen Fifty-Six, and demanded their reinstatement.

The statement listed changes to the Women’s Resource Center and the closure of the Black Student Union and Safe Zone offices, made in 2024 as the university moved to comply with SB129, the state’s law restricting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, among decisions it said had degraded the student experience.

The senate’s steering committee described the closures as “anticipatory obedience.” The senate’s statements carry a note that it does not speak for the UA System.

The amended Board Rule 502 requires a review of each new academic program within five years of implementation. New programs will continue to go to the board for approval.

“As you know, the Board of Trustees holds broad and ultimate authority over all operations of its campuses, including all courses and curricula, to ensure that the universities are fulfilling the Board’s mission,” Trant said.

He said the five-year review “will assess whether programs are achieving the stated goals and objectives, provide an opportunity to evaluate outcomes, identify areas for improvement, and ensure programs continue to meet the needs of our students and our state.”