Achieving Consensus on the University of Kansas Open-Access Policy

In April of 2009 the University of Kansas (KU) Faculty Senate passed an open-access policy much like Harvard, MIT, and Stanford faculty’s, a decision that was expanded and improved in a second vote in February 2010. With these policy decisions, KU became the first public university to pass a university-wide policy of this sort. A long-standing interest in addressing the systemic failings of access to university scholarship prepared KU to develop and support such measures. The KU open-access policy is not a new phenomenon for the university. Rather, in 2005, KU faculty governance passed a resolution to encourage greater access to scholarship created at the university, under the leadership of then Provost David Shulenburger. KU also made a key early investment in the development of an institutional repository, KU ScholarWorks, which is now serving as the platform for the open-access materials levied by the current policy. The 2009–2010 policy asserts the rights of KU faculty regarding the provision of worldwide access to their scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles. The policy was the product of a broad, collaborative effort by members of the faculty (including librarians), administration, and faculty governance. KU’s Faculty Senate is considered a vibrant and healthy institution within the university. In fall 2008, with a short turnaround time, a small but devoted ad hoc subcommittee of the Faculty Senate Research Committee was charged with developing a policy for the Faculty Senate’s consideration by the end of the academic year (spring 2009). As part of their work, a Web-based survey was distributed to KU faculty to assess their attitudes about and knowledge of open RLI 269 5