FOCUS: The road to tenure

Current and former professors discuss a controversial process Members of the School of Arts and Sciences Personnel Committee will be deciding the future of several non-tenured professors in the next few months. According to English Department Chairperson Wendy Steiner, the Personnel Committee should already have received most pending tenure cases. Twelve junior faculty members are under consideration for tenure this year, said History and Sociology Professor Susan Lindee, who is one of the professors under consideration. English Professors Herman Beavers, Rita Barnard and Gregg Camfield, History Professor Beshara Doumani and Philosophy Professor Gary Ebbs are among those being considered for tenure this year. When the University hires professors, they are put on a seven-year track. In the third year, they are reviewed for renewal and in the sixth year, they are considered for tenure. Candidates for tenure are first examined by the tenured faculty within their department. If the review is positive, the candidate's dossier is sent to the Personnel Committee for approval, Steiner said. The dossier includes recommendations from University faculty and other distinguished members of the candidate's particular field. The Personnel Committee also receives teaching evaluations and a list of research and scholarship work that the candidate has done. The Personnel Committee currently consists of nineteen full professors, each from different departments, who are serving two-year terms. If professors are denied tenure in their sixth year, they may resubmit their cases the next year. If they are denied a second time, they must leave the University after their seventh year. Camfield, who was denied tenure last March, is currently undergoing the reconsideration process. "The English Department has already sent his case with a strong vote, so the Personnel Committee knows where we stand," English Undergraduate Chairperson Al Filreis said. In the event that Camfield does not receive tenure, he will have to leave the University. Camfield received a job offer from the University of the Pacific in California earlier this month. Geology Professor Gregory Boyajian was also denied tenure by the Personnel Committee last year, after receiving unanimous support from his department. There has been no indication as to when the Geology Department will resubmit Boyajian's case, since it is now waiting until Boyajian's dossier is stronger. Boyajian said he expects the department to take up his case sometime next month. Most professors who are up for tenure for the first time have some anxiety about their upcoming tenure review, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Rescorla said. "Being evaluated puts a lot of pressure on one," Rescorla said. "But there is no way to attain an excellent faculty without evaluating each other." Although Lindee said the six years of intense scrutiny and difficult work has not been the most relaxing experience, the tenure process is not overly intimidating. "It's central to academic life," Lindee said. "The stakes are very large but I'm not staying up every night biting my nails." Ebbs said that he was relieved following his department's decision to recommend him for tenure, but realizes that the process is far from over. "One just has to be patient and I have a great deal of work to focus on instead of that," Ebbs said. Although Rescorla said that members of the Personnel Committee sometimes find themselves questioning their judgements, he added that the decisions made are necessary to maintain the University's excellence in education. "It is much better to set the criteria very high, perhaps denying tenure to someone who goes on to be a major scholar, then to set them too low," Rescorla said. Members of academia consider tenure as a substantial achievement and the culmination of several years of devoted teaching and research. "It can be very painful to have to tell a young candidate that, although their work is good, it is not quite up to the standard that we feel is necessary for a permanent position," Rescorla said. Job security is probably one of the most important benefits that tenure provides. "People without tenure have less of a voice and are not as much part of the conversation," Ebbs said. "It can make a big difference to the extent in which you're taken seriously to change how people think." Ebbs said he will begin applying for jobs at other institutions next fall if he does not receive tenure. During the period of 1980-1988, 42 percent of all non-tenured professors in the College were granted tenure, according to College Deputy Dean Frank Warner. This does not necessarily mean that the others were denied tenure, however, since not all junior faculty even become candidates for tenure, SAS Executive Assistant Janine Sternleib said.