The Process Tenure - Essay Example

Discuss the process tenure, the politics involved, and the issues related to faculty in HIGHER EDUCATION. Tenure would consist of the right to due process, which means that a college or university cannot dismiss a professor that has already attained tenure unless they have verification that he or she is incompetent or behaves unprofessionally or that an academic department needs to be closed or the school is in serious financial difficulty, and this must hold up in court. There would only be approximately two percent of tenured faculties that may be dismissed in a typical year. It is extremely difficult to get fired from being tenure and equally as difficult to become tenure. The probationary period to achieve tenure is estimated to be approximately three years for community colleges and seven years at four-year colleges or universities. Unfortunately, within the confines of a probationary period at colleges or universities, the institutions can choose not to renew faculty contracts and terminate faculty without any reason or cause because they are classed as at will employees. Throughout the probationary period, senior professors and administrators evaluate the work of new faculty-teaching, research and service before deciding whether or not to recommend tenure. This would be managed by having the students fill out a questionnaire at the end of the year to let the administrators and senior professors know how a particular instructor taught that year what are the strengths and weaknesses in a particular area. The administrators do not only focus on what the students say about the instructor they base how to become tenure not only on the questionnaire that the students fill out but how the instructor does as a whole. The instructors have a portfolio that they assemble in mid year probably around April and they turn it in to the Department Head of that particular department. The most recent survey of American faculty shows that, in a typical year, about one in five probationary faculty members was denied tenure and lost his or her job. According to the NEA and a paper titled The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education the faculty members of any institution are accountable even after the achievement of tenure. Evaluations of tenured faculty occur periodically for promotion, salary increases and even for merit increases. There is routine review of articles for publication and for grant applications based on merit by faculty peers. "If basic academic tenets and due process rights are observed, this kind of accountability is wholly appropriate. A finding of incompetence or unprofessional conduct can still result in firing". (1.http://www2.nea.org/he/truth.html) Universities manage to force diversity into a much broader societal discovery process. The meaning derived from this would be that faculty tenure would be based on the principles of intellectual autonomy and free inquiry. Together, these very principles would also manage describing a much less favorable track considered as accountability lacking. A tenured faculty member simply is not very accountable to deans and department chairs.Lack of accountability comes under heavy criticism, and yet tenure itself remains part of the virtue of the university.It is the mission of a university to work utilizing novel and independent principles whereby generating and evaluating ideas accordingly relative to the remainder of society. There would be direct commercial considerations which would drive most idea sources including research and development in corporate circles, commercial culture, celebrity culture and advertising. The university functions as both an alternative and complementary mechanism for the production and evaluation of social ideas.Direct commercial pressures insulate professors in the university environment; at least this is true in theory.For the most part, academic rewards would be determined by a peer evaluation. In a process that depends on intellectual or creative superstars, tenure and non-accountability work especially well within the process. An average producer may tend to use the lack of accountability to either shirk or pursue a set of self indulgent ideas with little value. The average producer might use lack of accountability to shirk, or to pursue self-indulgent ideas of little value.Superstars would use a lack of accountability in order to pursue their personal visions without hindrance from outside forces. Creative freedom is often thought of as good and lack of accountability is equally thought of as bad. The fact of the matter would be that they are two sides of the very same coin. If most of the value added comes from the superstars, the gains from their freedom may exceed the losses from the shirking of the average producer.Given that most artistic experiments are failures, effective discovery procedures often succeed by supporting the extremes, rather than trying to generate a good outcome in every attempt. (2.http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2006/04/in_defense_of_t.html) 1. Academic and Intellectual Freedom and Tenure in Higher Education "The National Education Association (NEA) affirms that academic and intellectual freedom in institutions of higher education are best protected and promoted by tenure, academic due process, and faculty self-governance" (1.http://www2.nea.org/he/truth.html) Contracts created within institutions of higher learning would consist of a binding arbitration which is enhanced by components which are collectively combined. The NEA's main concern is that the newer contracts have a tendency to undermine the very process of tenure. There would be various examples of this idea including: the excessive use of part-time faculty, misuse of temporary contracts and renewable contracts over long probationary periods, and tenure quotas. The detrimentally undermining characteristics of these contracts threaten job security as it is addressed through tenure. Higher education universities do not attempt to further the interest of either the individual teacher or the institution as a whole through what is ordinarily known as common good. Academic freedom would remain an absolute necessity in relation to these purposes and applies equally to both teaching and research. Having and maintaining freedom in research is ultimately fundamental to the advancement of truth. Academic freedom within the teaching aspect is primarily fundamental for the protection of the rights of both the teacher and the student within the freedom found and achieved in learning. Academic freedom would also include scholars' rights to publish results of their research freely and to retain the rights to their intellectual property. Academic freedom allows for the ability to participate in the governance of the institution, to advance in their chosen profession without suffering the fear of discrimination and, whenever necessary, the ability to criticize administrators, trustees, and other public officials without fear of recrimination. College and university faculty and staff would also have the right to assist any of their colleagues whose academic freedom and professional rights have been violated. Tenure, academic due process, and faculty self-governance would promote stability, continuity, and a scholarly environment on any campus. Practices may vary on occasion, but most faculty members are awarded tenure only after a rigorously managed peer evaluation containing several facets of their work including their teaching, research, and service on specific criteria which would be properly adopted by their programs or departments, and any general criteria that would be adopted by the faculty of the institution. During the traditional probationary period, which generally is not to exceed seven years, untenured faculty members should manage to enjoy an equal degree of academic and intellectual freedom as their tenured colleagues would manage and should be made aware of both the specific and general criteria that is to be applied to their evaluation for promotion and tenure. In this system, any attempt to legislate tenure criteria for an entire state would be inappropriate and counterproductive. Tenure is specific to the university or college in which it is administered and mandated. Tenure can often be defined as being the expectation of continuing, indefinite, and/or permanent appointment in the institution, granted subsequent to the probationary period and extensive, objective peer and institutional review. The location of tenure should be maintained within the institution by which tenure is granted. The courts would generally recognize tenure as a right of property, which, under the structure of the Fourteenth Amendment is virtually unable to be alienated from a faculty member except by academic due process as it would be appropriate to the institution and just cause for the evaluation must be given, obvious and understood. Academic due process would normally be considered a part of a system of faculty self-governance and evaluation that has been well established by faculty by-laws, constitutions, and collective bargaining contracts over the years. The courts have ordinarily accepted a judicial form of this very due process which would be quite similar in most respects to legal proceedings before a court of law. The burden is clearly on the administration to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a tenured faculty member should be dismissed or suffer serious sanction for incompetence or other just cause during this process. When accompanied by a proper system of faculty self-governance, tenure and academic due process would protect the rights of all faculty members, whether they are tenured or untenured. Tenure wouldn't necessarily impose a strict seniority system on a college or university that is to be followed if financial exigency requires a reduction in the size of the faculty and academic staff, unless the faculty and administration would agree to the use of such a system. The tenure system should accommodate affirmative action goals within its design and structure along with the need for academic integrity of each of the separate programs and departments. There should be the existence of both academic appeals and grievance procedures in order to eliminate capricious and arbitrary decisions, as faculty members exercise the right to challenge tenure and promotion decisions allegedly based on discrimination. An excessive use of academic appointments on non-tenure track, temporary or multiple long-term contracts manages to undermine the academic and intellectual freedom involved in governance of tenure and educational quality. Subjecting faculty members to lengthy or continuous probationary status while on college or university campuses ultimately causes these faculty members to be less likely ever to exercise freely their rights as citizens and this would be a tragic circumstance. Use of part-time faculty members has become excessive on college and university campuses and would manage to undermine academic and intellectual freedom, tenure, governance, and educational quality as a direct or even indirect result. These faculty members who would teach part-time frequently work for substandard compensation, without any form of job security or recourse to normal grievance procedures, under conditions that often place the value of the education being provided to their students at risk. NEA reaffirms its resolution "Misuse of Part-time or Temporary Education Employees." Tenure quotas (arbitrary limits on the percentage of tenured faculty) have a negative effect on the academic environment of an institution. NEA supports all proper efforts for an institution to seek and maintain academic excellence, but it opposes negative decisions on tenure motivated primarily by a desire to retain budgetary "flexibility." Rejuvenation of faculty and academic excellence may manage to be enhanced by a variety of means without actually weakening the tenure system. Faculty development plans that are ultimately designed to encourage professional growth must be developed and implemented with full faculty involvement. Faculty members own the responsibility to remain current within their fields in order to provide their students with a quality educational experience. Institutions may implement programs that are focused on training faculty members to teach in other areas or to fulfill other important roles at their institutions. The NEA strongly encourages faculty members, administrators, students, and governing boards to work within the current tenure system when they are confronting the challenges, opportunities, and adversities of the future. (1.http://www2.nea.org/he/truth.html) CURRENT ATTACKS ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND TENURE The political climate of the past two or more decades has led to a number of attacks on academic freedom and tenure. These attacks are a blatant misunderstanding of both the purpose and the history of academic freedom and tenure. Wendy Wassyng Roworth, chair of the AAUP Task Force on Tenure, states in "Why is Tenure Being Targeted for Attack" (1998): Tenure has become one of the most fiercely contended issues in higher education and because of these issues it has been questioned and the attacks about tenure have escalated over the past few years. "Others claim that tenure shelters incompetent teachers and that it prevents the flexibility needed to make cutbacks in response to shrinking budgets" (6.http://www.academicsenate.cc.ca.us/Publications/Papers/Tenure.htm ) This stance, as will soon be discussed within this paper, would also have proven to be patently false. Roworth then highlights the critical role that tenure plays in defending academic freedom when she responds that this negative attitude results from the fact that: "Critics of tenure simply do not understand the purpose of tenure: how difficult it is for faculty to achieve tenured status; the actual percentage of faculty who hold tenured positions; and how often they are evaluated throughout their careers." She goes on to say that tenure critics don't appreciate the fundamental purpose of tenure as the safeguard for academic freedom or the fact that tenure is not a guarantee for employment when it fails to prevent the removal of incompetent faculty members under the rights of due process. (6.http://www.academicsenate.cc.ca.us/Publications/Papers/Tenure.htm) It is vitally important to study the basis of tenure and then examine the individual college and university guidelines as to how tenure is gained in that particular environment. Like many things, every facet of tenure, dependent on whether it is a college or a university, and possibly based on a regional aspect as well, and like everything else one place is different than another. FACTS AND MYTHS IN THE TENURE PROCESS There would be a lot of rumor surrounding the tenure process. Most of this rumor is founded on the smallest amount of fact. Tenure is "a human institution with flaws - but a practice we can be proud of and need to maintain." (7.http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/higher_ed/truth_tenure.htm) The primary myth that should be discussed is the consideration that tenure is a lifetime guarantee. This is hardly true. Many tenured professors lose their jobs, but they are given the right of due process ahead of time whereas non-tenured professors would hardly gain that opportunity. According to the American Federation of Teachers as discussed on their website tenure only means that due process is required prior to a college or university dismissing a professor protected under the umbrella tenure allows. Evidence of incompetence or unprofessional behavior must be unequivocal prior to such action and must be presented to a jury of the professor's peers. (7.http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/higher_ed/truth_tenure.htm) This particular article goes on to say that it is purposefully difficult to fire a tenured professor in any manner and it would be equally as difficult to manage tenure as a professor. Probationary periods, on average, range from three years for community colleges to seven years at four year colleges. It would be during these three to seven years that anything can happen and quite often professors are fired or released or have non-renewed contracts within this time period. This can happen without cause. Another myth would consist of the idea that tenured faculty members don't work as hard as those who don't have tenure. This would hardly be true. Surveys clearly show that tenured faculty members publish more, work and serve with more committees and teach a great deal more often than untenured colleagues averaging more than fifty hours a week at work. The third myth professors say that to have tenure allows academic freedom but this isn't merely true for tenured professors. There are limits even to academic freedom, when it crosses the lines beyond controversy. Another myth includes the idea that nearly all professors have tenure. The truth of the matter, most of the professors on college campuses don't have tenure at all. This would not be a good thing. This is a bad consideration utilized by colleges and universities. The reason it is bad is because these "part-time" replacement or interim faculty members as have more often been hired of late, would be the single most exploited faculty members on college and university campuses. They are paid very low salaries, little to nothing in the realm of benefits and the inability to advise students. McPherson and Schapiro, both would discuss tenure in terms of how it impacts the college or university. Their approach manages to illuminate some underlying justifications which are part and parcel of tenure that go beyond academic freedom. Resolution within the issue of tenure, according to the authors, will determine how much of a voice faculty members have in key institutional matters such as who teaches and what subjects are researched. They also urge a more nuanced understanding of the issue, one that goes beyond consideration of tenure as all-or-nothing proposition. The consideration that tenure is a wasteful institution for universities runs up against the puzzling fact that the commitment to tenure is one that academic institutions would impose on themselves. Although the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) provides quite a powerful lobby in favor of tenure, there are generally no obligations for colleges or universities to offer tenure in any way. It can be argued as it has been in this work done by McPherson and Schapiro here, that the role of tenure is best understood in terms of its impact on the authority structure of the university. The paper goes on to say that there is much to understand in tenure and that there are equally as many myths as there would be truths within the ideas critics would possess in relation to tenure. (8.http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ffp9904.pdf) For faculty, a major step in the traditional academic career would be actually attaining tenure. New tenure-track faculty members usually are hired as instructors or assistant professors, and must serve a period ranging from three to seven years under term contracts. At the end of that time period, their teaching, research, and overall contribution to the institution as it has been recorded would be reviewed. Tenure is only granted if the review is favorable. Those who would be denied tenure usually must leave the institution as a result of this process. Tenured professors upon achievement of tenure cannot be fired without just cause and due process. Tenure protects the faculty's academic freedom which includes the ability to teach and conduct research without fear of being fired for advocating controversial or unpopular ideas. Tenure would also manage giving faculty and institutions the stability required for effective research and teaching, and provides financial security for the faculty. Some institutions would have adopted post-tenure review policies in order to encourage ongoing evaluation of tenured faculty. The number of tenure-track positions is declining, in some cases rapidly, as institutions seek flexibility in dealing with financial matters and changing student interests. Institutions have come to rely much more heavily on what are known as limited term contracts and part-time, or adjunct, faculty. This results in shrinking the total pool of tenured faculty. These limited-term contracts, which span typically 2- to 5 years, often have the potential to not be renewed or extended when they expire, and rarely would lead toward the offering of tenure. Some universities would have gone so far as to limit how many tenured professors they would allow on campus. (9.http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos066.htm ) In North America as it would be in most cases, tenure is not given immediately to new professors upon hiring. In place of this, open jobs are often designated as tenure track or eligible for tenure at some point in the future during the hiring process. It is typical under such a system that a professor would work at least five years before there would be any formality in the offering of tenure. This would thus be voted on by the academic department as to whether to recommend the candidates for tenure based on the teaching record, research done and services rendered during this time period. Each area carries a different weight depending on the college or university offering tenure. However, tenure is never granted without evidence of excellence in all three areas. A tenure review committee made up of faculty members or university administrators is given the department's recommendation, which then makes the decision whether to award tenure, and the university president either approves or vetoes the decision made. Any candidate who has been denied tenure is sometimes considered to have been dismissed, but this wouldn't be an entirely accurate consideration: employment is often guaranteed for no less than a year after tenure is denied, so the non-tenured professor would be afforded the opportunity to conduct an extended search for and then manage to secure new employment. Also, there are some prestigious universities and departments in the US who would tend to award tenure ever so rarely that being denied it is scarcely considered an insult. Professors who have earned tenure at one institution are more often than not offered tenure along with any new position (as "senior hires") elsewhere if they wish; otherwise, tenured faculty would rarely leave their position to join different universities. Outside the US, there exist a grand variety of contractual systems that operate. Often, the procedures used would be much less rigorous to move staff members from temporary to what would be considered permanent contracts. Permanent contracts, like tenure, may still be broken by employers within certain circumstances. Those circumstances include, for example, if the staff member works in a department earmarked for closure. This has a tendency to happen quite often on a worldwide basis as universities and colleges usually determine which courses of study serve their interests best and which do not. Tenure is a long and sometimes drawn out process that carries with it a lot of mysteries and mythology inherently. There are many facets involved in tenure and the achievement of it. Some of that is seen but most of it remains hidden within the constructs of individual colleges and universities. There is no uniform set of rules for achievement of tenure. Tenure is not a guaranteed position. Tenure merely guarantees the right to due process prior to ending a position for any reason. As can be seen, tenure is a very complex process and the achievement of tenure takes time on all sides to manage. Resources and Cited References: Cited References: 1. National Education Association: Higher Education; The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education; Published by the Higher Education Departments of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Friday, May 5, 2006 http://www2.nea.org/he/truth.html 2. National Education Association: Higher Education; The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education; Published by the Higher Education Departments of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Friday, May 5, 2006 http://www2.nea.org/he/truth.html The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education 3. Marginal Revolution: Small Steps Toward a Much Better World; In Defense of the University; Tyler Cowen on April 3, 2006 at 05:17 AM http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2006/04/in_defense_of_t.html 4. National Education Association: Higher Education; The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education; Published by the Higher Education Departments of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Friday, May 5, 2006 http://www2.nea.org/he/policy1.html 5. National Education Association: Higher Education; The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education; Published by the Higher Education Departments of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Friday, May 5, 2006 NEA's Tenure Policy 6. Academic Senate for California Colleges; Publications; Academic Freedom and Tenure: A Faculty Perspective; Copyright 2002 http://www.academicsenate.cc.ca.us/Publications/Papers/Tenure.htm 7. AFT A Union of Professionals: The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education; A Joint Project of the American Federation of Teachers and the National EducationAssociation; Copyright American Federation of Teachers http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/higher_ed/truth_tenure.htm 8. Chapter Four: Tenure Issues in Higher Education; Mcpherson, Michael; Macalaester College and Schapiro, Morton Owen; University of Southern California; http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ffp9904.pdf 9. U.S. Department of Labor; Bureau of Labor Statistics; Occupational Outlook Handbook; Teachers - Postsecondary; US Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections Washington DC; December 20, 2005 http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos066.htm Primary Resources 1. Thornstein, Veblen; The Higher Learning In America: A Memorandum On the Conduct of Universities by Business Men. http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/veblen/higher Secondary Resources 1. National Education Association: Higher Education; The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education; Published by the Higher Education Departments of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Friday, May 5, 2006 http://www2.nea.org/he/truth.html 2. National Education Association: Higher Education; The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education; Published by the Higher Education Departments of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Friday, May 5, 2006 http://www2.nea.org/he/truth.html The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education 3. Marginal Revolution: Small Steps Toward a Much Better World; In Defense of the University; Tyler Cowen on April 3, 2006 at 05:17 AM http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2006/04/in_defense_of_t.html 4. National Education Association: Higher Education; The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education; Published by the Higher Education Departments of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Friday, May 5, 2006 http://www2.nea.org/he/policy1.html 5. National Education Association: Higher Education; The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education; Published by the Higher Education Departments of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Friday, May 5, 2006 NEA's Tenure Policy 6. Academic Senate for California Colleges; Publications; Academic Freedom and Tenure: A Faculty Perspective; Copyright 2002 http://www.academicsenate.cc.ca.us/Publications/Papers/Tenure.htm 7. AFT A Union of Professionals: The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education; A Joint Project of the American Federation of Teachers and the National EducationAssociation; Copyright American Federation of Teachers http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/higher_ed/truth_tenure.htm 8. Chapter Four: Tenure Issues in Higher Education; Mcpherson, Michael; Macalaester College and Schapiro, Morton Owen; University of Southern California; http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ffp9904.pdf 9. U.S. Department of Labor; Bureau of Labor Statistics; Occupational Outlook Handbook; Teachers - Postsecondary; US Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections Washington DC; December 20, 2005 http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos066.htm Read More