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Academic tenure

August 22, 2023

"Tenure" redirects here. For other uses, see Tenure (disambiguation).

Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries. A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial exigency or program discontinuation. Tenure is a means of defending the principle of academic freedom, which holds that it is beneficial for society in the long run if scholars are free to hold and examine a variety of views.

History

Tenure was introduced into American universities in the early 1900s in part to prevent the arbitrary dismissal of faculty members who expressed unpopular views.[1]

One notable instance was the resignation of President Elisha Andrews, who advocated silver coinage to reduce the impact on Americans and farmers who owed larger and larger loans due to deflation. Deflation benefited bankers, monopolists, and robber barons, and the board of Brown, many of whom were creditors and landowners, told Andrews to cease his public advocacy. The Dean of Yale Law School Francis Wayland argued that Andrew's free expression threatened donations to Brown, and that money was the life blood of universities. In 1897, Andrews was forced to offer his resignation, but there was a backlash by faculty and student body advocating free speech, and the board reversed its decision and refused Andrews' resignation. A year later, Andrews resigned.[2]

Before Nazism, Germany had been a leader in academic tenure, but free speech and tenure were severely curtailed under the Third Reich. Hitler called universal education "the most corroding and disintegrating poison". He appointed Education Minister Bernard Rust, to ensure Nazi racial theories were integrated in university curriculums. This caused a purge of 1500 professors, and by 1939, nearly half of all faculty posts were occupied by Nazis.[3]

In the late 1940's, the University of Illinois at Urbana fired several prominent economists for teaching Keynesian economics.[1]

By country

United States and Canada

See also: Academic tenure in North America

Under the tenure systems adopted by many universities and colleges in the United States and Canada, some faculty positions have tenure and some do not. Typical systems (such as the widely adopted "1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure" of the American Association of University Professors[4]) allow only a limited period to establish a record of published research, ability to attract grant funding, academic visibility, teaching excellence, and administrative or community service. They limit the number of years that any employee can remain employed as a non-tenured instructor or professor, compelling the institution to grant tenure to or terminate an individual, with significant advance notice, at the end of a specified time period. Some institutions require promotion to Associate Professor as a condition of tenure. A university may also offer research positions or professional track and clinical track academic positions which are said to be "non-tenure track". Positions with titles such as Instructor, Lecturer, Adjunct Professor, Research Professor etc. do not carry the possibility of tenure, have higher teaching loads (other than maybe the research positions), have less influence within the institution, lower compensation with few or no benefits (see Adjunct professor), and little protection of academic freedom.[5]

In response to Nazi manipulations of university faculty in Germany,[6] the modern conception of tenure in US higher education originated with the American Association of University Professors' (AAUP) 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure.[7] Jointly formulated and endorsed by the AAUP and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the 1940 Statement is endorsed by over 250 scholarly and higher education organizations and is widely adopted into faculty handbooks and collective bargaining agreements at institutions of higher education throughout the United States.[8] This statement holds that, "The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition" and stresses that academic freedom is essential in teaching and research in this regard.

In the United States, tenure rights for teachers serving in (K-12) public schools also have been in existence for more than a hundred years.[9]

United Kingdom

See also: Academic ranks in the United Kingdom and Lecturer

The original form of academic tenure was removed in the United Kingdom in 1988 through the Education Reform Act.[10][11] In its place, there is the distinction between permanent and temporary contracts for academics. A permanent lecturer in UK universities usually holds an open-ended position that covers teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities.

Germany

See also: Habilitation § Germany, and Academic ranks in Germany

Academics are divided into two classes: On the one hand, professors (W2/W3&C3/C4 positions in the new & old systems of pay grades) are employed as state civil servants and hold tenure as highly safeguarded lifetime employment; On the other hand, there is a much larger group of "junior staff" on fixed-term contracts, research grants, fellowships and part-time jobs. In 2010, 9% of academic staff were professors, 66% were "junior staff" (including doctoral candidates on contracts), and 25% were other academic staff in secondary employment.[12] Permanent research, teaching and management positions below professorship as an "Akademischer Rat" (a civil service position salaried like high school teachers) have become relatively rare compared to the 1970s and 1980s and are often no longer refilled after a retirement.[13] In order to attain the position of Professor, in some fields, an academic must usually complete a "Habilitation" (a kind of broader second PhD thesis; the very highest degree available within the university, entitling the holder to be a "full professor"), after which they are eligible for tenureship. This means that, compared to other countries, academics in Germany obtain tenure at a relatively late age, as on average one becomes an Academic Assistant at the age of 42.[14] In 2002 the "Juniorprofessur" position (comparable to an assistant professor in the US, but not always endowed with a tenure track) was introduced as an alternative to "Habilitation". However, the degree of formal equivalence between a "Habilitation" and a successfully completed "Juniorprofessur" varies across the different states (Bundesländer), and the informal recognition of having served as a "Juniorprofessur" as a replacement for the "Habilitation" in the appointment procedures for professorships varies greatly between disciplines.

Due to a university system that guarantees universities relative academic freedom, the position of professor in Germany is relatively strong and independent. As civil servants, professors have a series of attendant rights and benefits, yet this status is subject to discussion. In the W pay scale the professorial pay is related to performance rather than merely to age, as it was in C.

Denmark

Danish universities in advertisements for faculty positions usually state that professor positions are tenured. However, the interpretation of tenure at Danish universities has been a matter of controversy.

Denmark adopted a more hierarchical management approach for universities in the early 2000s. This new system was introduced by parliament on proposal by the Minister of Science, Technology and Development, Helge Sander, based on his vision that Danish universities in the future should compete about funding in order to increase their attention to marketing and industry.[15]

The controversial understanding of tenure in Denmark was demonstrated by University of Copenhagen in 2016, when the university fired the internationally renowned professor, Hans Thybo, due to what they regarded as unacceptable and untenable behavior (putting pressure on postdoc in regards of an employment survey and using private emails for work related matters despite repeated warnings about it). The handling of the firing was critisized by other researchers.[16][neutrality is disputed] A later court decision ruled that the dismissal had not followed the collective agreements and Thybo received an economic compensation. Thybo had insisted that he should be reinstated in his previous position, but this was not supported by the court and the university did not rehire him.[17]

Arguments in favor

Defenders of tenure, like Ellen Schrecker and Aeon J. Skoble, generally acknowledge flaws in how tenure approvals are currently run and problems in how tenured professors might use their time, security, and power; however, as Skoble puts it, the "downsides are either not as bad as claimed, or [are] costs outweighed by the benefits"—and he points out that the very debate about tenure in which he is engaging is made possible by the academic freedom which tenure makes possible.[18] "Tenure remains scholars' best defense of free inquiry and heterodoxy," writes Skoble, "especially in these times of heightened polarization and internet outrage. Let us focus on fixing it, not scrapping it."[19]

The job security granted by tenure is necessary to recruit talented individuals into university professorships, because in many fields private industry jobs pay significantly more; as Schrecker puts it, providing professors "the kind of job security that most other workers can only dream of" counterbalances universities' inability to compete with the private sector: "Universities, after all, are not corporations and cannot provide the kinds of financial remuneration that similarly educated individuals in other fields expect."[20] Furthermore, Schrecker continues, because research positions require extreme specialization, they must consolidate the frequency and intensity of performance evaluations across a given career, and they cannot have the same flexibility or turnover rates as other jobs, making the tenure process a practical necessity: "A mathematician cannot teach a class on medieval Islam, nor can an art historian run an organic chemistry lab. Moreover, there is no way that the employing institution can provide the kind of retraining that would facilitate such a transformation... even the largest and most well-endowed institution lacks the resources to reevaluate and replace its medieval Islamicists and algebraic topologists every year. Tenure thus lets the academic community avoid excessive turnover while still ensuring the quality of the institution's faculty. It is structured around two assessments – one at hiring, the other some six years later – that are far more rigorous than those elsewhere in society and give the institution enough confidence in the ability of the successful candidates to retain them on a permanent basis."[21] Tenure also locks in the non-pecuniary aspects of academic compensation, lowering the required salary.[22]

Above all, however, tenure is essential because it protects academic freedom: not only in cases in which a scholar's politics may run counter to those of their department, institution, or funding bodies, but also and most often in cases when a scholar's work innovates in ways that challenge received wisdom in the field. As much as Ellen Schrecker identifies its flaws, she asserts tenure's crucial role in preserving academic freedom:

And yet, despite its whittling away by such unfortunate decisions as Urofsky, Garcetti, and Hong, the traditional form of academic freedom still exists, misunderstood and imperiled as it may be. It exists by virtue of two practices that protect the job security and institutional authority of college and university teachers: tenure and faculty governance. It exists as well because of the procedural guarantees that surround those practices... My own experiences prove tenure's value. As a historian who wants to conform to the highest professional standards while also trying to contribute in some way to the cause of freedom and social justice, I am viewed as a controversial figure in some circles. I would be seriously hampered in my work, however, if I was constantly worrying about losing my job because of something I wrote or said... Tenure is also the mechanism through which institutions create a protected space within which college and university teachers can exercise their craft without worrying that an unpopular or unorthodox undertaking might put their careers at risk. More concretely, it creates an economically secure cohort of senior faculty members who can (and sometimes do) defend the quality of American education as well as the ability of their colleagues to teach, do research, and speak out as citizens without fear of institutional reprisals. Such, at least, is the idealized version of the relationship between tenure and academic freedom.

[full citation needed]

In elementary and secondary schools, tenure also protects teachers from being fired for personal, political, or other non-work related reasons: tenure prohibits school districts from firing experienced teachers to hire less experienced, less expensive teachers as well as protects teachers from being fired for teaching unpopular, controversial, or otherwise challenged curricula such as evolutionary biology, theology, and controversial literature.[citation needed]

If the "social justice" element of Schrecker's defense makes it seem like present-day assurances of academic freedom create a politically left echo chamber in academic departments, Skoble observes that tenure thus becomes all the more necessary to preserve a diversity of ideas: "There is an orthodoxy in the academy, a well-documented leftward slant in political affiliation. To Bruce, this is an argument against tenure, but my point is that the more I am persuaded that there is groupthink orthodoxy afoot, the more I want assurances that I would not get fired if I write an essay on free trade or the Second Amendment or a book on anarchism. I take it the counterargument is that the more entrenched the orthodoxy becomes, the less likely a heterodox scholar will be tenured, or even hired, in the first place... I can see that this poses a problem but fail to see how abolishing tenure would help. As things stand, some heterodox scholars do get hired and tenured.. If only the heterodox need formal protection, and we have a problem with growing orthodoxy, then eliminating the formal protection will exacerbate the problem."[23]

Skoble argues categorically and plainly against critics that say "tenure protects incompetent professors": "My argument is that when this happens, it is a malfunction of the system, not an intrinsic feature of its proper use. The way it is supposed to work is that incompetent professors do not get tenure in the first place. The rebuttal is 'but they do, therefore tenure is a bad idea.' But that is like arguing that because you ran a red light and caused a train wreck, driving is a bad idea."[24]

Arguments against

Some have argued that modern tenure systems diminish academic freedom, forcing those seeking tenured positions to profess conformance to the level of mediocrity as those awarding the tenured professorships. For example, according to physicist Lee Smolin, "...it is practically career suicide for a young theoretical physicist not to join the field of string theory."[25]

Economist Steven Levitt, who recommends the elimination of tenure (for economics professors) in order to incentivize higher performance among professors, also points out that a pay increase may be required to compensate faculty members for the lost job security.[26]

Some U.S. states have considered legislation to remove tenure at public universities.[27][28][29]

A further criticism of tenure is that it rewards complacency. Once professors are awarded tenure, they may begin putting reduced effort into their job, knowing that their removal is difficult or expensive to the institution.[30] Another criticism is that it may cause the institution to tolerate incompetent professors if they are tenured. Gilbert Lycan, a history professor at Stetson University, writing in respect of a fellow professor he deemed unacceptable, stated that "the dean ... would not tolerate ineffective teaching by a non-tenured teacher who was making no effort to improve,"[31] thereby tacitly admitting, or at least leaving open the fair inference, that ineffective teaching is tolerated if the professor is tenured.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "The Role of Tenure in Higher Education". cs.brown.edu.
  2. ^ "Elisha Benjamin Andrews: 1889-1898 | Office of the President | Brown University". www.brown.edu.
  3. ^ "A brief history of academic freedom".
  4. ^ "1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure"; this statement has been adopted by more than 200 scholarly and academic groups ("Endorsers of the 1940 Statement"). The American Association of University Professors also publishes "Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure".
  5. ^ "The Status of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty | AAUP". www.aaup.org. 17 December 2008. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  6. ^ "A brief history of academic freedom".
  7. ^ "1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure – AAUP". Aaup.org. 10 July 2006. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  8. ^ "What is academic tenure?". Aaup.org. 30 June 2006. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  9. ^ "Tenure". American Federation of Teachers. 2015-06-01. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  10. ^ "Education Reform Act 1988". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  11. ^ Enders, Jürgen. "Explainer: how Europe does academic tenure". The Conversation. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  12. ^ "buwin2013keyresults.pdf — BuWiN 2017". www.buwin.de (in German). Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  13. ^ "Prekäre Arbeitsverhältnisse an Universitäten nehmen zu". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). 9 December 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  14. ^ . 6 February 2018. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  15. ^ "Helge Sander forandrede universiteterne totalt og fortryder intet". University Post (in Danish). 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  16. ^ Schiermeier, Quirin (5 December 2016). "Nature: Sacking of prominent geoscientist rocks community". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2016.21095. S2CID 186102842.
  17. ^ "Sacking of top geologist Hans Thybo was unjustified". uniavisen.dk. 27 November 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  18. ^ Aeon J. Skoble, "Tenure: The Good Outweighs the Bad – A Surresponse to James E. Bruce", in Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 22, Number 1 (Spring 2019): 207–210, quoted at 208.
  19. ^ Aeon J. Skoble, "Tenure: The Good Outweighs the Bad – A Surresponse to James E. Bruce," in Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 22, Number 1 (Spring 2019): 207–210, quoted at 210.
  20. ^ Ellen Schrecker, The Lost Soul of Higher Education: Corporatization, the Assault on Academic Freedom, and the End of the American University (The New Press, 2010), p. 26
  21. ^ Ellen Schrecker, The Lost Soul of Higher Education: Corporatization, the Assault on Academic Freedom, and the End of the American University (The New Press, 2010), p. 27-28
  22. ^ Makowsky, Michael (1 May 2023). "Why Tenure". Economist Writing Every Day. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  23. ^ Aeon J. Skoble, "Tenure: The Good Outweighs the Bad – A Surresponse to James E. Bruce," in Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 22, Number 1 (Spring 2019): 207–210, quoted at 208–9.
  24. ^ Aeon J. Skoble, "Tenure: The Good Outweighs the Bad – A Surresponse to James E. Bruce," in Journal of Markets & Morality Volume 22, Number 1 (Spring 2019): 207–210, quoted at 209.
  25. ^ Lee Smolin (2008). The Trouble with Physics. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-101835-5.
  26. ^ Levitt, Steven (4 March 2007). "Let's Just Get Rid of Tenure (Including Mine)". Freakonomics. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  27. ^ Surovell, Eva (2023-05-29). "Students and Faculty Fear Tenure and DEI Bills Could 'Destroy' Texas Colleges". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  28. ^ Flaherty, Colleen (13 January 2017). "Killing Tenure". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  29. ^ Nietzel, Michael T. "Bills To End College Tenure Have Fizzled At The Finish". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  30. ^ "Study links tenure criteria to long-term professor performance". Insidehighered.com. 7 January 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  31. ^ Lycan, Mountaineers Are Free at 297 (Stone Mountain, Georgia: Linton Day Publishing Co. 1994).

Further reading

  • Enders, Jürgen (2015-06-29). "Explainer: how Europe does academic tenure". The Conversation.

August 22, 2023
academic, tenure, tenure, redirects, here, other, uses, tenure, disambiguation, tenure, category, academic, appointment, existing, some, countries, tenured, post, indefinite, academic, appointment, that, terminated, only, cause, under, extraordinary, circumsta. Tenure redirects here For other uses see Tenure disambiguation Tenure is a category of academic appointment existing in some countries A tenured post is an indefinite academic appointment that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency or program discontinuation Tenure is a means of defending the principle of academic freedom which holds that it is beneficial for society in the long run if scholars are free to hold and examine a variety of views Contents 1 History 2 By country 2 1 United States and Canada 2 2 United Kingdom 2 3 Germany 2 4 Denmark 3 Arguments in favor 4 Arguments against 5 See also 6 References 7 Further readingHistory EditTenure was introduced into American universities in the early 1900s in part to prevent the arbitrary dismissal of faculty members who expressed unpopular views 1 One notable instance was the resignation of President Elisha Andrews who advocated silver coinage to reduce the impact on Americans and farmers who owed larger and larger loans due to deflation Deflation benefited bankers monopolists and robber barons and the board of Brown many of whom were creditors and landowners told Andrews to cease his public advocacy The Dean of Yale Law School Francis Wayland argued that Andrew s free expression threatened donations to Brown and that money was the life blood of universities In 1897 Andrews was forced to offer his resignation but there was a backlash by faculty and student body advocating free speech and the board reversed its decision and refused Andrews resignation A year later Andrews resigned 2 Before Nazism Germany had been a leader in academic tenure but free speech and tenure were severely curtailed under the Third Reich Hitler called universal education the most corroding and disintegrating poison He appointed Education Minister Bernard Rust to ensure Nazi racial theories were integrated in university curriculums This caused a purge of 1500 professors and by 1939 nearly half of all faculty posts were occupied by Nazis 3 In the late 1940 s the University of Illinois at Urbana fired several prominent economists for teaching Keynesian economics 1 By country EditUnited States and Canada Edit See also Academic tenure in North America Under the tenure systems adopted by many universities and colleges in the United States and Canada some faculty positions have tenure and some do not Typical systems such as the widely adopted 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure of the American Association of University Professors 4 allow only a limited period to establish a record of published research ability to attract grant funding academic visibility teaching excellence and administrative or community service They limit the number of years that any employee can remain employed as a non tenured instructor or professor compelling the institution to grant tenure to or terminate an individual with significant advance notice at the end of a specified time period Some institutions require promotion to Associate Professor as a condition of tenure A university may also offer research positions or professional track and clinical track academic positions which are said to be non tenure track Positions with titles such as Instructor Lecturer Adjunct Professor Research Professor etc do not carry the possibility of tenure have higher teaching loads other than maybe the research positions have less influence within the institution lower compensation with few or no benefits see Adjunct professor and little protection of academic freedom 5 In response to Nazi manipulations of university faculty in Germany 6 the modern conception of tenure in US higher education originated with the American Association of University Professors AAUP 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure 7 Jointly formulated and endorsed by the AAUP and the Association of American Colleges and Universities AAC amp U the 1940 Statement is endorsed by over 250 scholarly and higher education organizations and is widely adopted into faculty handbooks and collective bargaining agreements at institutions of higher education throughout the United States 8 This statement holds that The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition and stresses that academic freedom is essential in teaching and research in this regard In the United States tenure rights for teachers serving in K 12 public schools also have been in existence for more than a hundred years 9 United Kingdom Edit See also Academic ranks in the United Kingdom and Lecturer The original form of academic tenure was removed in the United Kingdom in 1988 through the Education Reform Act 10 11 In its place there is the distinction between permanent and temporary contracts for academics A permanent lecturer in UK universities usually holds an open ended position that covers teaching research and administrative responsibilities Germany Edit See also Habilitation Germany and Academic ranks in Germany Academics are divided into two classes On the one hand professors W2 W3 amp C3 C4 positions in the new amp old systems of pay grades are employed as state civil servants and hold tenure as highly safeguarded lifetime employment On the other hand there is a much larger group of junior staff on fixed term contracts research grants fellowships and part time jobs In 2010 9 of academic staff were professors 66 were junior staff including doctoral candidates on contracts and 25 were other academic staff in secondary employment 12 Permanent research teaching and management positions below professorship as an Akademischer Rat a civil service position salaried like high school teachers have become relatively rare compared to the 1970s and 1980s and are often no longer refilled after a retirement 13 In order to attain the position of Professor in some fields an academic must usually complete a Habilitation a kind of broader second PhD thesis the very highest degree available within the university entitling the holder to be a full professor after which they are eligible for tenureship This means that compared to other countries academics in Germany obtain tenure at a relatively late age as on average one becomes an Academic Assistant at the age of 42 14 In 2002 the Juniorprofessur position comparable to an assistant professor in the US but not always endowed with a tenure track was introduced as an alternative to Habilitation However the degree of formal equivalence between a Habilitation and a successfully completed Juniorprofessur varies across the different states Bundeslander and the informal recognition of having served as a Juniorprofessur as a replacement for the Habilitation in the appointment procedures for professorships varies greatly between disciplines Due to a university system that guarantees universities relative academic freedom the position of professor in Germany is relatively strong and independent As civil servants professors have a series of attendant rights and benefits yet this status is subject to discussion In the W pay scale the professorial pay is related to performance rather than merely to age as it was in C Denmark Edit Danish universities in advertisements for faculty positions usually state that professor positions are tenured However the interpretation of tenure at Danish universities has been a matter of controversy Denmark adopted a more hierarchical management approach for universities in the early 2000s This new system was introduced by parliament on proposal by the Minister of Science Technology and Development Helge Sander based on his vision that Danish universities in the future should compete about funding in order to increase their attention to marketing and industry 15 The controversial understanding of tenure in Denmark was demonstrated by University of Copenhagen in 2016 when the university fired the internationally renowned professor Hans Thybo due to what they regarded as unacceptable and untenable behavior putting pressure on postdoc in regards of an employment survey and using private emails for work related matters despite repeated warnings about it The handling of the firing was critisized by other researchers 16 neutrality is disputed A later court decision ruled that the dismissal had not followed the collective agreements and Thybo received an economic compensation Thybo had insisted that he should be reinstated in his previous position but this was not supported by the court and the university did not rehire him 17 Arguments in favor EditDefenders of tenure like Ellen Schrecker and Aeon J Skoble generally acknowledge flaws in how tenure approvals are currently run and problems in how tenured professors might use their time security and power however as Skoble puts it the downsides are either not as bad as claimed or are costs outweighed by the benefits and he points out that the very debate about tenure in which he is engaging is made possible by the academic freedom which tenure makes possible 18 Tenure remains scholars best defense of free inquiry and heterodoxy writes Skoble especially in these times of heightened polarization and internet outrage Let us focus on fixing it not scrapping it 19 The job security granted by tenure is necessary to recruit talented individuals into university professorships because in many fields private industry jobs pay significantly more as Schrecker puts it providing professors the kind of job security that most other workers can only dream of counterbalances universities inability to compete with the private sector Universities after all are not corporations and cannot provide the kinds of financial remuneration that similarly educated individuals in other fields expect 20 Furthermore Schrecker continues because research positions require extreme specialization they must consolidate the frequency and intensity of performance evaluations across a given career and they cannot have the same flexibility or turnover rates as other jobs making the tenure process a practical necessity A mathematician cannot teach a class on medieval Islam nor can an art historian run an organic chemistry lab Moreover there is no way that the employing institution can provide the kind of retraining that would facilitate such a transformation even the largest and most well endowed institution lacks the resources to reevaluate and replace its medieval Islamicists and algebraic topologists every year Tenure thus lets the academic community avoid excessive turnover while still ensuring the quality of the institution s faculty It is structured around two assessments one at hiring the other some six years later that are far more rigorous than those elsewhere in society and give the institution enough confidence in the ability of the successful candidates to retain them on a permanent basis 21 Tenure also locks in the non pecuniary aspects of academic compensation lowering the required salary 22 Above all however tenure is essential because it protects academic freedom not only in cases in which a scholar s politics may run counter to those of their department institution or funding bodies but also and most often in cases when a scholar s work innovates in ways that challenge received wisdom in the field As much as Ellen Schrecker identifies its flaws she asserts tenure s crucial role in preserving academic freedom And yet despite its whittling away by such unfortunate decisions as Urofsky Garcetti and Hong the traditional form of academic freedom still exists misunderstood and imperiled as it may be It exists by virtue of two practices that protect the job security and institutional authority of college and university teachers tenure and faculty governance It exists as well because of the procedural guarantees that surround those practices My own experiences prove tenure s value As a historian who wants to conform to the highest professional standards while also trying to contribute in some way to the cause of freedom and social justice I am viewed as a controversial figure in some circles I would be seriously hampered in my work however if I was constantly worrying about losing my job because of something I wrote or said Tenure is also the mechanism through which institutions create a protected space within which college and university teachers can exercise their craft without worrying that an unpopular or unorthodox undertaking might put their careers at risk More concretely it creates an economically secure cohort of senior faculty members who can and sometimes do defend the quality of American education as well as the ability of their colleagues to teach do research and speak out as citizens without fear of institutional reprisals Such at least is the idealized version of the relationship between tenure and academic freedom full citation needed In elementary and secondary schools tenure also protects teachers from being fired for personal political or other non work related reasons tenure prohibits school districts from firing experienced teachers to hire less experienced less expensive teachers as well as protects teachers from being fired for teaching unpopular controversial or otherwise challenged curricula such as evolutionary biology theology and controversial literature citation needed If the social justice element of Schrecker s defense makes it seem like present day assurances of academic freedom create a politically left echo chamber in academic departments Skoble observes that tenure thus becomes all the more necessary to preserve a diversity of ideas There is an orthodoxy in the academy a well documented leftward slant in political affiliation To Bruce this is an argument against tenure but my point is that the more I am persuaded that there is groupthink orthodoxy afoot the more I want assurances that I would not get fired if I write an essay on free trade or the Second Amendment or a book on anarchism I take it the counterargument is that the more entrenched the orthodoxy becomes the less likely a heterodox scholar will be tenured or even hired in the first place I can see that this poses a problem but fail to see how abolishing tenure would help As things stand some heterodox scholars do get hired and tenured If only the heterodox need formal protection and we have a problem with growing orthodoxy then eliminating the formal protection will exacerbate the problem 23 Skoble argues categorically and plainly against critics that say tenure protects incompetent professors My argument is that when this happens it is a malfunction of the system not an intrinsic feature of its proper use The way it is supposed to work is that incompetent professors do not get tenure in the first place The rebuttal is but they do therefore tenure is a bad idea But that is like arguing that because you ran a red light and caused a train wreck driving is a bad idea 24 Arguments against EditSome have argued that modern tenure systems diminish academic freedom forcing those seeking tenured positions to profess conformance to the level of mediocrity as those awarding the tenured professorships For example according to physicist Lee Smolin it is practically career suicide for a young theoretical physicist not to join the field of string theory 25 Economist Steven Levitt who recommends the elimination of tenure for economics professors in order to incentivize higher performance among professors also points out that a pay increase may be required to compensate faculty members for the lost job security 26 Some U S states have considered legislation to remove tenure at public universities 27 28 29 A further criticism of tenure is that it rewards complacency Once professors are awarded tenure they may begin putting reduced effort into their job knowing that their removal is difficult or expensive to the institution 30 Another criticism is that it may cause the institution to tolerate incompetent professors if they are tenured Gilbert Lycan a history professor at Stetson University writing in respect of a fellow professor he deemed unacceptable stated that the dean would not tolerate ineffective teaching by a non tenured teacher who was making no effort to improve 31 thereby tacitly admitting or at least leaving open the fair inference that ineffective teaching is tolerated if the professor is tenured See also EditAcademic tenure in North America Faculty academic staff Habilitation List of academic ranks Academic ranks Australia and New Zealand References Edit a b The Role of Tenure in Higher Education cs brown edu Elisha Benjamin Andrews 1889 1898 Office of the President Brown University www brown edu A brief history of academic freedom 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure this statement has been adopted by more than 200 scholarly and academic groups Endorsers of the 1940 Statement The American Association of University Professors also publishes Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure The Status of Non Tenure Track Faculty AAUP www aaup org 17 December 2008 Retrieved 2019 03 20 A brief history of academic freedom 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure AAUP Aaup org 10 July 2006 Retrieved 16 October 2017 What is academic tenure Aaup org 30 June 2006 Retrieved 16 October 2017 Tenure American Federation of Teachers 2015 06 01 Retrieved 2021 01 07 Education Reform Act 1988 www legislation gov uk Retrieved 4 May 2018 Enders Jurgen Explainer how Europe does academic tenure The Conversation Retrieved 4 May 2018 buwin2013keyresults pdf BuWiN 2017 www buwin de in German Retrieved 6 February 2018 Prekare Arbeitsverhaltnisse an Universitaten nehmen zu Der Tagesspiegel Online in German 9 December 2011 Retrieved 8 March 2018 Explainer how Europe does academic tenure 6 February 2018 Archived from the original on 6 February 2018 Retrieved 6 February 2018 Helge Sander forandrede universiteterne totalt og fortryder intet University Post in Danish 2021 06 03 Retrieved 2021 09 15 Schiermeier Quirin 5 December 2016 Nature Sacking of prominent geoscientist rocks community Nature doi 10 1038 nature 2016 21095 S2CID 186102842 Sacking of top geologist Hans Thybo was unjustified uniavisen dk 27 November 2017 Retrieved 22 August 2023 Aeon J Skoble Tenure The Good Outweighs the Bad A Surresponse to James E Bruce in Journal of Markets amp Morality Volume 22 Number 1 Spring 2019 207 210 quoted at 208 Aeon J Skoble Tenure The Good Outweighs the Bad A Surresponse to James E Bruce in Journal of Markets amp Morality Volume 22 Number 1 Spring 2019 207 210 quoted at 210 Ellen Schrecker The Lost Soul of Higher Education Corporatization the Assault on Academic Freedom and the End of the American University The New Press 2010 p 26 Ellen Schrecker The Lost Soul of Higher Education Corporatization the Assault on Academic Freedom and the End of the American University The New Press 2010 p 27 28 Makowsky Michael 1 May 2023 Why Tenure Economist Writing Every Day Retrieved 12 May 2023 Aeon J Skoble Tenure The Good Outweighs the Bad A Surresponse to James E Bruce in Journal of Markets amp Morality Volume 22 Number 1 Spring 2019 207 210 quoted at 208 9 Aeon J Skoble Tenure The Good Outweighs the Bad A Surresponse to James E Bruce in Journal of Markets amp Morality Volume 22 Number 1 Spring 2019 207 210 quoted at 209 Lee Smolin 2008 The Trouble with Physics Penguin Books ISBN 978 0 14 101835 5 Levitt Steven 4 March 2007 Let s Just Get Rid of Tenure Including Mine Freakonomics Retrieved 9 March 2017 Surovell Eva 2023 05 29 Students and Faculty Fear Tenure and DEI Bills Could Destroy Texas Colleges The Chronicle of Higher Education Retrieved 2023 06 30 Flaherty Colleen 13 January 2017 Killing Tenure Inside Higher Ed Retrieved 9 March 2017 Nietzel Michael T Bills To End College Tenure Have Fizzled At The Finish Forbes Retrieved 2023 06 30 Study links tenure criteria to long term professor performance Insidehighered com 7 January 2014 Retrieved 16 October 2017 Lycan Mountaineers Are Free at 297 Stone Mountain Georgia Linton Day Publishing Co 1994 Further reading EditEnders Jurgen 2015 06 29 Explainer how Europe does academic tenure The Conversation Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Academic tenure amp oldid 1171672969, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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