Faculty discuss nat'l tenure trends

Faculty members expressed concern about the future of tenure at universities nationwide during last Wednesday's Faculty Senate Executive Committee meeting. The discussion was sparked by a University of Minnesota proposal that threatens to undermine tenure completely, all but abolishing the system. According to Law Professor Robert Gorman, the University of Minnesota's Board of Regents recommended regulating tenure to such an extent as to challenge academic freedom. Gorman, who is also associate vice president of the American Association of University Professors, stressed that the situation reflects an increasing threat to higher education. "If these kinds of proposals can be put out seriously at a large distinguished public university such as the University of Minnesota, there is concern on every campus by faculty, students, administration and the general public," he said. But Gorman predicted that in the end, the University of Minnesota's Board of Regents would withdraw the proposal. Although SEC devoted much of its meeting to the Minnesota plan, some faculty members said they were not really worried about tenure abolition as a national trend. "I think there are enough people who understand that this will be an aberration at least in good universities," Operations and Information Management Professor Jim Laing said. Faculty Senate Chairperson Peter Kuriloff noted that while there are national pressures to downsize, state schools are more vulnerable than private universities like Penn. "People often have a corporate mentality -- they don't understand that universities require protection so controversial ideas can be protected," said Kuriloff, an Education professor. According to Gorman, Minnesota's faculty evaluated its existing tenure code last spring, a review that led to the recently released proposal. "If implemented, those suggestions would undermine the previous rules both on that campus and in higher education," Gorman said. Kuriloff said he thinks it does not make sense to fix the tenure system, which he believes works efficiently and protects the quality and freedom of American universities. University President Judith Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow discussed the proposal at the meeting as well. "The tenure system is a necessary component, in our view, of an institution which is dedicated to making knowledge," Chodorow said.