Few professors on our campus are tenured, or are even on the tenure track. Many students do not even know the difference between tenured and non-tenured faculty members and this could directly effect their education at VU. President Helton said that VU offers quality programming, and tenured faculty are very important to that quality.
Rebecca Mullen, professor of English, explained that tenure gives the institution and instructors an agreement of continuous employment, and the university cannot arbitrarily fire the instructor. Some reasons that the tenured faculty could still lose their jobs are obvious reasons such as insubordination or incompetence. It gives the professor a sense of continuity, and consistency as well as allowing them to have a say in building curriculum. The professors have the opportunity to speak freely about ideas, research the curriculum, and allows an "open forum for ideas," said Mullen. "It also protects students because the school cannot just close programs, and allows those faculty members to stand up for our interests."
Not all professors are hired in on the tenure track. Those that are, start out on a five year probationary period and work through three levels. The first is assistant professor, second is associate professor, and then finally become a full professor. Mullen said that this process is not easy, and her tenure application was approximately 75 pages long. It included the tenure form, documentation of teaching, effect of her teaching, services to he community, and quite a bit more goes into it.
The opportunity of being tenured often attracts better quality of faculty members because it allows them to have academic freedom. Academic freedom allows the professor to alter some of the materials used in the course, while still following the curriculum.
Rebecca Mullen, Mike Burch, and Larry Stearns met with the Faculty Affairs Committee Chairman, J.R. Gaylor and President Richard Helton on March 24 to discuss some of the issues regarding tenure. One issue that was discussed was "revolving door faculty," which are instructors straight out of college that come to our university to get some experience, and move onto another place where they can use that experience and feel more secure. "It serves no purpose for us," Mullen said. Often times these instructors do not advise, do not take the extra time to help, and the fact that so many are coming and going makes things messy in that department.
Also, Stearns brought up the idea of mentoring those new professors that come to our university.
"As tenured faculty we can help along new faculty members without having to look over your shoulder and wonder whether or not they are out for your job," he said.
Mike Burch also added that achieving tenure can make you feel prideful of your job.
Following the tenure freeze in 1996, and the "thaw" in 1999, there have been few tenures offered. VU has not tenured in over 10 years. There are currently eight people on tenure track now, but only three will apply within the next few years. VU currently has 46.6 percent of faculty tenured, but Mullen said that 50-60 percent is a more reasonable number.
Mullen said that there are no easy solutions to getting this back on track, but she is hopeful that they will say that they want to get this started again. Gaylor and Helton said that they will continue working on this issue after summer. "I can tell you that we are discussing the tenure policy," Helton said during a phone interview.
Students who may have more questions on this subject or on the effect tenure has on the morale of teachers, please email the Trailblazer at www.trailblazer@vinu.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!