Harris, Chris. (2009). Tenure

Tenure is a professor’s semi-permanent job contract and ticket to academic freedom; usually granted within seven years after a probationary hearing. Academic freedom as defined by AAUP is “the right of faculty to full freedom in research and in the publication of results, freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, and the right of faculty to be free from institutional censorship or discipline when they speak or write as citizens.” At most colleges, professors’ eligibility for tenure is determined by their teaching ability, publication record, and by a combination of departmental service and student advising. At larger universities, research usually plays a larger role in the eligibility for tenure. Tenure is not a lifetime job guarantee; it is a right to due process. Meaning, the university or its administrators cannot fire a tenured professor without a sound reason and must follow published policy. As America changes, the education system stays the same. Most universities have found ways around the so-called “due process and sound reason” clause. Of course, like most systems, there are good and there are bad sides to the tenure plan.

Since its founding in 1915 the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), has found it necessary to protect academic freedom. The primary reason for professors to work towards a tenured position is for academic freedom. Because tenured professors cannot be fired without sound reasons, they usually feel freer to express themselves. These professors are more willing to speak out and research more controversial issues, thus making the classroom a place where controversial ideas may be freely expressed. Professors without tenure may feel pressured to toe the party line in order to keep their jobs. However, like most professions, there are always those who want to get their position, and then sit back while others do most of the work.

According to Professor R.J. Rummel, “tenure has become a system that protects incompetent faculty, and a shield behind which many faculty take their salary, teach their courses from yellowed notes, do little real research, and spend much of their time socializing, pursuing personal interests, a hobby, or promoting their politics.” Students need a personal relationship with their professors in order to do well in college. With more and more professors “teaching from yellowed notes” and not teaching more up-to-date or controversial topics, then they may very well lose their students’ interest. Students need a class where the professor is willing to step out of line and keep the class fun and make it worth coming to. Changing the tenure plan by taking out the negative attributes while keeping the positive ones, would create a better system.
One way to modify the tenure plan would be for professors, after the probationary seven years, to sign a five-year contract that would guarantee them their jobs. At the end of the five years, professors would be re-evaluated in front of a tenure committee. That committee would look at their teaching techniques and materials they use, to make sure they are teaching an up-to-date class. The committee would then decide whether or not to renew the contract. The tenure committee would give professors a raise determined by the results from the evaluations. This process would weed out the professors who want to sit back and do little, while granting limited tenure to those who work hard. I believe that this system would give all currently tenured professors their long sought after academic freedom, while still maintaining boundaries for professors’ behaviors. For the professors who remain in the teaching profession, while maintaining their new limited tenured title, they would receive additional benefits. If a professor reaches the twenty-year goal, with no more than one red mark in their folder, then they would get a $1500 dollar bonus on top of their normal raise. If a professor reaches the thirty-year goal, with no more than two red marks, then they would receive a $1500 dollar bonus on top of their normal raise. The extra money would be issued from either the State Government or the Federal Government. That way, university administrators wouldn’t deliberately give a professor an extra red mark to make them ineligible for the benefits. These benefits would give professors another incentive to teach an up-to-date class.

It is obvious that something needs to be done with the tenure system. For 94 years the AAUP has been protecting a plan that has many flaws. Most likely the modifications above will not be used, but something like that could be. Without a change to the tenure system the academic community will keep faltering. Year after year there are hundreds of students being affected by tenured professors who have just given up and decided to do as little as possible.