Within an institution, administrators come and go, and every four years a new cadre of students enrolls, but the faulty represent the mainstay of the educational process. The faculty at most institutions is comprised of many unique individuals all contributing important skills and talents to create a sustainable learning environment. Each faculty member of an institution is integral to the educational process and valuable.
Academic freedom allows faculty to take risks and think outside the box. Furthermore, it allows a system of checks and balances, whereby faculty have the opportunity to evaluate and challenge academic and administrative policies.
Job security and the assurance of due process are reassuring to faculty and therefore have the potential to increase productivity. From my observations, the tenured faculty form a core group of faculty who are dedicated, hardworking and successful.
Their expertise and experience support them as leaders and mentors for the institution and the profession. To reach high educational standards and maintain quality for future generations of students and faculty, we need to support the stability and productivity of the tenured faculty.
The argument has often been made to replace tenure with long-term contracts. Although at some institutions long-term contracts can be a viable option, these contracts do not necessarily protect a faculty member from a lack of due process upon termination or safeguard academic freedom.
Tenure continues to exist in American higher education, and surveyed provosts — the chief academic officers on their campuses — maintain support for retaining the tenure system on their campuses.
But those same academic leaders have hired increasing numbers of less expensive faculty without tenure over the past few decades. In recent years, the percentage of tenured college teachers has fallen to Recent analysis suggests that if part-time faculty are included, a mere quarter of college teachers have tenure. While research shows diverse faculty and peer viewpoints lead to a richer education for students , the tenured faculty are whiter and more male than the whole body of college teachers, let alone the U.
Does it require tenure for faculty? Or is tenure a destructive job perk that limits innovation in an important service industry by entrenching faculty who may be mediocre and old-fashioned in their teaching and research?
The one thing guaranteed in the future of tenure is that as long as it exists, it will continue to be controversial. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. Become an author Sign up as a reader Sign in. In the academic school year, George Justice , Arizona State University. What is academic tenure? Therefore, it is important to have systems in place to protect academic freedom.
Tenure serves that purpose. Tenure promotes stability. Faculty members who are committed to the institution can develop ties with the local community, pursue ongoing research projects, and mentor students and beginning scholars over the long term.
Although tenure does protect individual faculty members, it actually serves society and the common good by protecting the quality of teaching and research and thus the integrity of institutions of higher education. If faculty members can lose their positions for what they say in the classroom or for what they write in an article, they are unlikely to risk addressing controversial issues.
The common good is not served when business, political, or other entities can threaten the livelihood of researchers and instructors, and thereby suppress the results of their work or modify their judgements. The number of tenured faculty within the academic labor force has declined to about 21 percent. Thus, the number of teachers and researchers who are protected when speaking in the classroom or publishing research on controversial topics is declining.
Institutions commonly evaluate faculty members during and at the end of a probationary period. The AAUP holds that all full-time faculty members, regardless of rank, are to be considered eligible for tenure. The AAUP also supports tenure for part-time faculty members. What is an example of a professor who needs academic freedom and tenure to do their work?
0コメント