View source for Academic tenure in North America

{{Short description|Contractual right for teachers}}
{{broader|Academic tenure}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2021}}

Academic tenure in the United States and Canada is a [[Contract|contractual right]] that grants a [[teacher]] or [[professor]] a permanent position of employment at an academic institution such as a [[university]] or [[school]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Stephey|first=M. J.|date=2008-11-17|title=A Brief History of Tenure|language=en-US|magazine=Time|url=http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1859505,00.html|access-date=2021-07-12|issn=0040-781X}}</ref> Tenure is intended to protect teachers from dismissal without just cause, and to allow development of thoughts or ideas considered unpopular or controversial among the community. In North America, tenure is granted only to educators whose work is considered to be exceptionally productive and beneficial in their careers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tenure {{!}} AAUP|url=http://www.aaup.org/issues/tenure|access-date=2016-03-06|website=www.aaup.org|date=30 June 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Truth About Tenure in Higher Education|url=http://www.nea.org/home/33067.htm|access-date=2016-03-06|website=NEA}}</ref>

Academic tenure became a standard for education institutions in North America with the introduction of the [[American Association of University Professors]] (AAUP)'s ''1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure''. In this statement, the AAUP provides a definition of academic tenure: "a means to certain ends, specifically: (1) freedom of teaching and research and of extramural activities, and (2) a sufficient degree of economic security to make the profession attractive to men and women of ability."<ref>{{Cite web|title=1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure {{!}} AAUP|url=https://www.aaup.org/report/1940-statement-principles-academic-freedom-and-tenure|access-date=2021-03-31|website=www.aaup.org|date=10 July 2006 }}</ref>

==Academic tenure (colleges and universities)==
Under the tenure systems adopted by many [[university|universities]] and [[college]]s in the United States and Canada, some faculty positions have tenure and some do not. Typical systems (such as the widely adopted "1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure" of the [[American Association of University Professors]]<ref>http://aaup.org/report/1940-statement-principles-academic-freedom-and-tenure; this statement has been adopted by more than 200 scholarly and academic groups (http://aaup.org/endorsers-1940-statement). The American Association of University Professors also publishes [http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/policydocs/contents/RIR.htm "Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure"].</ref>) allow only a limited period to establish a record of published research, ability to attract grant funding, academic visibility, teaching excellence, and administrative or community service. They limit the number of years that any employee can remain employed as a non-tenured instructor or professor, compelling the institution to grant tenure to or terminate an individual, with significant advance notice, at the end of a specified time period. Some institutions require promotion to Associate Professor as a condition of tenure. An institution may also offer other academic positions that are not time-limited, with titles such as lecturer, adjunct professor, or research professor, but these positions do not carry the possibility of tenure and are said to be not "tenure track".{{Citation needed|date=May 2015}}

Academic tenure's original purpose was to guarantee the right to [[academic freedom]]: it protects teachers and researchers when they dissent from prevailing opinion, openly disagree with authorities of any sort, or spend time on unfashionable topics. Thus academic tenure is similar to the lifetime tenure that protects some judges from external pressure.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fjc.gov/federal/courts.nsf/autoframe!openform&nav=menu1&page=/federal/courts.nsf/page/183 |title=Inside the Federal Courts |author=Federal Judicial Center |access-date=2015-04-06 |quote=Federal judges appointed under Article III of the Constitution are guaranteed what amounts to life tenure and unreduced salary so that they won't be afraid to make an unpopular decision. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414082048/http://www.fjc.gov/federal/courts.nsf/autoframe%21openform%26nav%3Dmenu1%26page%3D/federal/courts.nsf/page/183 |archive-date=2015-04-14 |author-link=Federal Judicial Center }}</ref> Without job security, the scholarly community as a whole may experience pressure to favor noncontroversial lines of academic inquiry. The intent of tenure is to allow original ideas to be more likely to arise, by giving scholars the intellectual autonomy to investigate the problems and solutions as they see fit and to report their honest conclusions.<ref>Reis, Richard. (1997) ''[http://au.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0780311361,miniSiteCd-IEEE2.html Tomorrow's Professor: Preparing for Academic Careers in Science and Engineering]''. [[Wiley-IEEE Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-7803-1136-7}}</ref> However, it has also become a type of job security for professors.

In North American universities and colleges, the tenure track has long been a defining feature of professorial employment, although it is less than universal.<ref>[http://lilt.ilstu.edu/jhreid/isuaaup/tenure.htm "White Paper #1 - Tenure"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060906042450/http://lilt.ilstu.edu/jhreid/isuaaup/tenure.htm |date=September 6, 2006 }} Illinois State University's AAUP.</ref><ref>[http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=2576 "Transient professors: How important is tenure?"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927235306/http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=2576 |date=September 27, 2007 }} Evelyn Shih (2003) The Yale Herald.</ref> In North American universities, positions that carry tenure, or the opportunity to attain tenure, have grown more slowly than non-tenure-track positions, leading to a large "academic underclass".<ref>[http://unr.edu/homepage/jtr/tenure.html "Tenure in the new millennium: Still a valuable concept"] James T. Richardson (1999) National Forum (see section on "Split labour theory in academe").</ref> For example, most US universities supplement the work of tenured professors with the services of non-tenured [[Professor#Other positions|adjunct professors]], academics who teach classes for lower wages and fewer employment benefits under relatively short-term contracts. For those that are tenure track, it generally takes seven years to earn tenure while working as an [[assistant professor]]. Tenure is determined by a combination of research, teaching, and service, with each factor weighted according to the values of a particular university, college or department. There is some evidence that professors that share more (e.g. via [[open access]] publications, [[open data]], or [[open source hardware]] development) gain an advantage in obtaining tenure because they are cited more and can thus develop a higher [[h-index]].<ref>[[Joshua M. Pearce]], "Open Source Hardware in Academia" in Alicia Gibb (Ed.) ''Building Open Source Hardware: DIY Manufacturing for Hackers and Makers'', Addison-Wesley: New York, pp. 253-277 (2015).</ref> This competition for limited resources could lead to ethically questionable behaviour.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=M.S. |last1=Anderson |first2=E.A. |last2=Ronning |first3=R. |last3=de Vries |first4=B.C. |last4=Martison |title=The perverse effects of competition on scientists' work and relationship |journal=Science and Engineering Ethics |issue=13 |volume=4 |pages=437–461 |year=2007 |doi=10.1007/s11948-007-9042-5 |pmid=18030595|s2cid=2994701 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s11948-015-9638-0|pmid=25742806|first=M. van|last=Wesel |title=Evaluation by Citation: Trends in Publication Behavior, Evaluation Criteria, and the Strive for High Impact Publications|journal=Science and Engineering Ethics|issue=1|volume=22|pages=199–225|year=2016 |pmc=4750571}}</ref>

==History in the United States ==
===19th century===
In the 19th century, university professors largely served at the pleasure of the [[board of trustees]] of the university. Sometimes, major [[Donation|donors]] could successfully remove professors or prohibit the hiring of certain individuals; nonetheless, a ''de facto'' tenure system existed. Usually professors were only fired for interfering with the [[religion|religious]] [[principle]]s of a college, and most boards were reluctant to discipline professors. The courts rarely intervened in dismissals.

In one debate of the [[Cornell University]] Board of Trustees in the 1870s, a businessman trustee argued against the prevailing system of ''de facto'' tenure, but lost the argument. Despite the power retained in the board, [[academic freedom]] prevailed. Another example is the 1894 case of [[Richard T. Ely]], a [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] professor who advocated labor strikes and labor law reform. Though the Wisconsin legislature and business interests pressed for his dismissal, the board of trustees of the university passed a resolution committing itself to academic freedom, and to retaining him (without tenure):

{{blockquote|In all lines of academic investigation it is of the utmost importance that the investigator should be absolutely free to follow the indications of truth wherever they may lead. Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere we believe the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/WER1035-Chpt1.html |title=WER: Sifting and Winnowing [Chapter 1&#93; |publisher=Library.wisc.edu |date=1998-01-01 |access-date=2012-09-16}}</ref>}}

===From 1900 to 1940===
In 1900, the presidents of [[Harvard University]], [[Columbia University]], and the [[University of Chicago]] each made clear{{How|date=June 2021}} that no donor could any longer dictate faculty decisions; such a donor's contribution would be unwelcome. The notorious case of the dismissal of [[G. B. Halsted]] by the [[University of Texas]] in 1903 after nineteen years of service may have accelerated the adoption of the tenure concept.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}{{Speculation inline|date=August 2025}}

In 1915, this was followed by the [[American Association of University Professors]]' declaration of principles—the traditional justification for academic freedom and tenure.

The AAUP's declaration of principles recommended that:
* Trustees raise faculty salaries, but not bind their consciences with restrictions.
* Only committees of other faculty members can judge a member of the faculty. This would also insulate higher administration from external accountability decisions.
* Faculty appointments be made by other faculty and chairpersons, with three elements:
*# Clear employment contracts
*# formal academic tenure, and
*# clearly stated grounds for dismissal.

While the AAUP pushed reform, tenure battles were a campus non-issue. In 1910, a survey of 22 universities showed that most professors held their positions with "presumptive permanence". At a third of colleges, assistant professor appointments were considered permanent, while at most colleges multi-year appointments were subject to renewal. Only at one university did a governing board ratify a president's decisions on granting tenure.

An important tenure case in this period was the 1936 denial of tenure for [[Jerome Davis (sociologist)|Jerome Davis]], a professor of practical philanthropy at [[Yale Divinity School]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yale Alumni Magazine: firebrand professor Jerome Davis (May/June 05) |url=http://archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2005_05/old_yale.html |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=archives.yalealumnimagazine.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Jerome Davis case |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015056104311?urlappend=%3Bseq=3 |access-date=2023-10-28 |website=HathiTrust | date=1937 | hdl=2027/mdp.39015056104311?urlappend=%3Bseq=3 |language=en}}</ref>

===From 1940 to 1972===
In 1940, the AAUP recommended that the academic tenure probationary period be seven years, which is still the norm.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aaup.org/report/1940-statement-principles-academic-freedom-and-tenure|title=1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure &#124; AAUP|website=www.aaup.org|date=10 July 2006 }}</ref> It also suggested that a tenured professor could not be dismissed without adequate cause, except "under extraordinary circumstances, because of financial emergencies." Also, the statement recommended that the professor be given the written reasons for dismissal and an opportunity to be heard in self-defense. Another purpose of the academic tenure probationary period was raising the performance standards of the faculty by pressing new professors to perform to the standard of the school's established faculty.

The most significant adoption of academic tenure occurred after 1945, when the influx of returning [[GI (term)|GIs]] returning to school led to quickly expanding universities with severe professorial faculty shortages. These shortages dogged the academy for ten years, and that is when the majority of universities started offering formal tenure as a side benefit. The rate of tenure (percent of tenured university faculty) increased to 52 percent.{{Citation needed|date=July 2015}} In fact, the demand for professors was so high in the 1950s that the [[American Council of Learned Societies]] held a conference in [[Cuba]] noting the too-few doctoral candidates to fill positions in English departments. During the [[McCarthy era]], loyalty oaths were required of many state employees, and neither formal academic tenure nor the Constitutional principles of freedom of speech and association were protection from dismissal. Some professors were dismissed for their political affiliations. During the 1960s, many professors supported the [[anti-war movement]] against the [[Vietnam War]], and more than 20 state legislatures passed resolutions calling for specific professorial dismissals and a change to the academic tenure system.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chait |first1=Richard |last2=Ford |first2=Andrew |title=Beyond Traditional Tenure |date=1982 |publisher=Jossey-Bass |location=San Francisco |isbn=0875895190}}</ref>

===Since 1972===
Two landmark [[U.S. Supreme Court]] cases changed tenure in 1972: (i) ''[[Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth]]'', 408 US 564; and (ii) ''[[Perry v. Sindermann]]'', 408 US 593. These two cases held that a professor's claim to entitlement must be more than a subjective expectancy of continued employment. Rather, there must be a contractual relationship or a reference in a contract to a specific tenure policy or agreement. Further, the court held that a tenured professor who is discharged from a public college has been deprived of a property interest, and so due process applies, requiring certain procedural safeguards (the right to personally appear in a hearing, the right to examine evidence and respond to accusations, the right to have advisory counsel).

Later cases specified other bases for dismissal: (i) if a professor's conduct were incompatible with his duties (''Trotman v. Bd. of Trustees of Lincoln Univ.'', 635 F.2d 216 (2d Cir.1980)); (ii) if the discharge decision is based on an objective rule (''Johnson v. Bd. of Regents of U. Wisc. Sys.'', 377 F. Supp 277, (W.D. Wisc. 1974)). After these cases were judged, the number of reported cases in the matter of academic tenure increased more than two-fold: from 36 cases filed during the decade 1965–1975, to 81 cases filed during the period 1980–1985.

During the 1980s there were no notable tenure battles, but three were outstanding in the 1990s. In 1995, the [[Florida Board of Regents]] tried to re-evaluate academic tenure, but managed only to institute a weak, post-tenure performance review. Likewise, in 1996 the [[Arizona Board of Regents]] attempted to re-evaluate tenure, fearing that few full-time professors actually taught university undergraduate students, mainly because the processes of achieving academic tenure underweighted teaching.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Chait |editor1-first=Richard |title=The Questions of Tenure |date=2002 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0674007719}}</ref> However, faculty and administrators defended themselves and the board of trustees dropped its review. Finally, the University of Minnesota Regents tried from 1995 to 1996 to enact 13 proposals, including these policy changes: to allow the regents to cut faculty base- salaries for reasons other than a university financial emergency including poor performance; to fire tenured professors when their programs were eliminated or restructured if the university were unable to retrain or reassign them. In the Minnesota system, 87 percent of university faculty were either tenured or on the tenure track, and the professors vehemently defended themselves. Eventually, the president of the system opposed these changes and weakened a compromise plan by the dean of the law school before it then failed. "The board overreached what was the available political consensus,” according to [[Richard P. Chait|Richard Chait]], a Harvard professor and tenure specialist hired as a consultant to the regents.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Magner |first1=Denise |title=Scholar Provides Framework for Plans to End or Revamp Tenure |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/scholar-provides-framework-for-plans-to-end-or-revamp-tenure/ |access-date=25 January 2024 |work=The Chronicle of Higher Education |date=14 February 1997}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sanchez |first1=Rene |title=Minnesota Faculty, Regents Put Tenure to the Test |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/11/09/minnesota-faculty-regents-put-tenure-to-the-test/92a5a7b9-4193-40cd-8f7f-19df55ae530a/ |access-date=25 January 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=9 November 1996}}</ref> In Chait's ''The Questions of Tenure'', a lack of data is credited for hampering reform of the tenure code in Minnesota.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Trower |first1=Cathy |last2=Honan |first2=James |editor1-last=Chait |editor1-first=Richard |title=The Questions of Tenure |date=2002 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0674007719 |page=274 |chapter=How Might Data Be Used?}}</ref> The board chairman resigned later that year.

The period since 1972 has seen a steady decline in the percentage (although not the numbers) of college and university teaching positions in the US that are either tenured or tenure-track. United States Department of Education statistics put the combined tenured/tenure-track rate at 56% for 1975, 46.8% for 1989, and 31.9% for 2005. That is to say, by the year 2005, 68.1% of US college teachers were neither tenured nor eligible for tenure; a full 48% of teachers that year were part-time employees.

====Racial and gender disparities====
During the latter part of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, it was assumed{{citation needed|reason=needs a source showing who assumed it beyond the "higher-education experts" that were cited in the boston globe article, i.e. [[MOS:WEASEL]]|date=July 2022}} that as the disproportionately white, male cohort of U.S. tenured faculty members retired, they would be replaced by a more representative cohort.<ref name=globe-race-gender /> Although diversity in tenured faculty has improved since the 1990s, the existing cohort is still not representative:<ref name=globe-race-gender /> in fall 2020, 59.4% of tenured faculty in the United States were men and 73.8% were white,<ref name=nces-data-2019-2020>{{cite web |url=https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_315.20.asp |title=Digest of Education Statistics: Full-time faculty in degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by race/ethnicity, sex, and academic rank: Fall 2018, fall 2019, and fall 2020 |author=National Center for Education Statistics |access-date=17 July 2022}}</ref> while in fall 1991, 79.5% of tenured faculty were men and 90.4% were white.<ref name=nces-data-1991>{{cite web |url=https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d95/dtab218.asp |title=Full-time instructional faculty in institutions of higher education, by race/ethnicity, academic rank, and sex: Fall 1991 |author=National Center for Education Statistics |access-date=17 July 2022}}</ref> In fall 2019, 4.8% of tenured faculty were Black and only 2.3% were Black women.<ref name=globe-race-gender>{{cite news |last1=Scott |first1=Ivy |last2=Lyons |first2=Jack |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/07/01/metro/black-women-are-largely-shut-out-coveted-tenure-track-positions-mass-colleges-universities |title=Black women are largely shut out of coveted tenure-track positions at Mass. colleges and universities |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |date=2021-07-01 |accessdate=2021-07-02 }}</ref><ref name=nces-data-2019-2020 />

Accounting for these disparities, numerous studies have shown that racially and ethnically underrepresented professors "still experience social isolation, subtle and occasionally overt prejudice, a lack of mentors and ambiguous expectations."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chait |first1=Richard |last2=Trower |first2=Cathy |title=Professors at the Color Line |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/11/opinion/professors-at-the-color-line.html |access-date=25 January 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=11 September 2001}}</ref> Notably, a study published in 2024, using a sample of over 1,500 promotion and tenure decisions made across 5 US institutions between 2015 and 2022, found evidence of racial disparities in the promotion and tenure process. Specifically, the authors found that historically underrepresented minority (Black and Hispanic) faculty, compared to White and Asian faculty, received on average 7% more negative votes and were 44% less likely to receive a unanimous vote at the college-level of voting.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1038/s41562-024-01977-7 | pages = 2107–2118 | title=Underrepresented minority faculty in the USA face a double standard in promotion and tenure decisions | year=2024 | last1=Masters-Waage | first1=Theodore C. | last2=Spitzmueller | first2=Christiane | last3=Edema-Sillo | first3=Ebenezer | last4=St. Aubin | first4=Ally | last5=Penn-Marshall | first5=Michelle | last6=Henderson | first6=Erika | last7=Lindner | first7=Erika | last8=Werner | first8=Cynthia | last9=Rizzuto | first9=Tracey | last10=Madera | first10=Juan | journal=Nature Human Behaviour | volume = 8 | issue= 11 | pmid = 39367060 | pmc=11576510 }}</ref>

==Revocation==

In 1994, a study in ''[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]'' found that "about 50 tenured professors [in the US] are dismissed each year for cause."<ref>Carolyn J. Mooney, "Dismissals for Cause", ''[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]'', December 7, 1994, p. A17.</ref> While tenure protects the occupant of an academic position, it does not protect against the elimination of that position. For example, a university that is under financial stress may take the drastic step of eliminating or [[layoff|downsizing]] some departments, in which case both tenured and untenured faculty are let go.<ref>Gregory M. Saltzman,' Dismissals, Layoffs, and Tenure Denials in Colleges and Universities' http://www.nea.org/assets/img/PubAlmanac/ALM_08_05.pdf</ref>

In 1985, the United States Supreme Court decision ''[[Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill]]''<ref>{{cite court|litigants =Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudermill| vol =470| reporter =U.S.| opinion =532| date =1985|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/470/532}}</ref> determined that a tenured teacher cannot be dismissed without oral or written notice regarding the charges against him or her. Additionally, the Court held that the employer must provide an explanation of the employer's decision, including a discussion of the employer's evidence, and the teacher must be given an opportunity for a fair and meaningful hearing.

==Criticisms of tenure for school teachers==
In 2012, tenure for school teachers was challenged in a California lawsuit called ''[[Vergara v. California]]''. The primary issue in the case was the impact of tenure on student outcomes and on equity in education.  On June 10, 2014, the trial judge ruled that California's teacher tenure statute produced disparities that "[[Shocks the conscience|shock the conscience]]" and violate the equal protection clause of the [[Constitution of California|California Constitution]]; his ruling was later overturned on appeal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article71913032.html|first=Alexei|last=Koseff|title=California court upholds teacher tenure, dismissal laws|date=April 14, 2016}}</ref>

==Criticisms of tenure for college professors==
The American Association of University Professors has handled hundreds of cases where it alleges that tenure candidates were treated unfairly. The AAUP has censured many major and minor universities and colleges for such alleged tenure abuses.<ref>[http://www.aaup.org/Com-a/Censure.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717173943/http://www.aaup.org/Com-a/Censure.htm|date=July 17, 2006}}</ref><ref>[http://www.aaup.org/Com-a/allcen.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060419090428/http://www.aaup.org/Com-a/allcen.htm|date=April 19, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aaup.org/our-programs/academic-freedom/censure-list|title=Censure List &#124; AAUP|website=www.aaup.org|date=18 July 2006 }}</ref>

Tenure at many universities depends primarily on research publications and research grants, although the universities' official policies are that tenure depends on research, teaching and service.<ref>Boyer, E.L. 1990. ''Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate.'' Princeton, NJ: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.</ref> The demand that a professor show exemplary production in research is intense. Unless a professor's research is in pedagogy (for instance within a School of Education), articles in refereed teaching journals and obtaining teaching grants often do not contribute greatly towards tenure, as the research is not focused on the professor's creating new knowledge in his or her home discipline. Business schools also consider contribution to practice, but this is difficult to implement due to a lack of generally accepted criteria and metrics.<ref>{{cite journal|first=A.|last=Serenko |title= Looking Beyond the Pointing Finger: Ensuring the Success of the Scholarly Capital Model in the Contemporary Academic Environment |url=http://aserenko.com/papers/Serenko_Looking_Beyond_the_Pointing_Finger.pdf |journal= Communications of the Association for Information Systems|volume=4|pages=217–226|year=2019}}</ref>

At some universities the department chairperson sends forward the department recommendation on tenure. There have been cases, such as one case at The University of Texas at San Antonio (2008), where the faculty voted unanimously to tenure an individual but the chairperson sent forward a recommendation not to grant tenure despite the faculty support. {{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}

Tenure decisions can result in fierce political battles. In one tenure battle at [[Indiana University]], an untenured professor was accused of threatening violence against those who opposed his promotion, his wife briefly went on a hunger strike, and many called for the entire department to be disbanded.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Leatherman |first1=Courtney |title=Alleged Death Threats, a Hunger Strike, and a Department at Risk over a Tenure Decision |url=http://chronicle.com:80/free/v46/i48/48a01201.htm |publisher=Chronicle of Higher Education |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090516004741/http://chronicle.com:80/free/v46/i48/48a01201.htm|date=August 4, 2000 |archive-date=2009-05-16}}</ref> In another instance in February 2010, Amy Bishop with the [[University of Alabama in Huntsville]] [[2010 University of Alabama in Huntsville shooting|shot and killed]] colleagues after losing her appeal for tenure.<ref>[http://chronicle.com/article/Huntsville-Official-Tried-to/64215/ "Huntsville Official Tried to Calm Amy Bishop in Phone Call About Her Future"] Paul Basken (2010). Chronicle of Higher Education.</ref>

Since the 1970s<ref>Searle, John. (1971) The Campus War: A Sympathetic Look at the Campus In Agony. World Publishing Company, ASIN: B0006CPN0E</ref> philosopher [[John Searle]] has called for major changes to tenure systems, calling the practice "without adequate justification." Searle suggests that to reduce [[publish or perish]] pressures that can hamper their classroom teaching, capable professors be given tenure much sooner than the standard four-to-six years. However, Searle also argued that tenured professors be reviewed every seven years to help eliminate "incompetent" teachers who can otherwise find refuge in the tenure system.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heraldextra.com/news/opinion/article_92749dfc-4d18-52a6-8d3b-d181fd015344.html|title=Profs' tenure under fire|work=Daily Herald}}</ref>

It has also been suggested that tenure may have the effect of diminishing political and academic freedom among those seeking it – that they must appear to conform to the political or academic views of the field or the institution where they seek tenure. For example, in ''[[The Trouble with Physics]]'', the theoretical physicist [[Lee Smolin]] says "...{{nbsp}}it is practically career suicide for young theoretical physicists not to join the field of string theory{{nbsp}}...". It is certainly possible to view the tenure track as a long-term demonstration of the candidate's political and academic [[conformity]]. [[Patrick Michaels|Patrick J. Michaels]], a controversial{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} part-time climate science research professor at the University of Virginia, wrote: "...{{nbsp}}tenure has had the exact opposite effect as to its stated goal of diversifying free expression. Instead, it stifles free speech in the formative years of a scientist's academic career, and all but requires a track record in support of paradigms that might have outgrown their usefulness."<ref>Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming, Patrick J. Michaels, Chap. 11 p. 229.</ref> However, this point of view would tend to argue not against the abolition of the tenure system, but the shortening of the probationary period, since after receiving tenure, professors no longer feel the pressure to conform to their discipline's mainline views.

As more academics publish research in [[Internet]] and [[multimedia]] formats, organizations such as the [[American Council of Learned Societies]] and [[Modern Language Association]] have recommended changes to promotion and tenure criteria, and some university departments have made such changes to reflect the increasing importance of networked scholarship.<ref>[http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/leon.2009.42.1.71 "New Criteria for New Media"] [[Joline Blais]], et al. (2009) Leonardo (Cambridge: MIT Press).</ref>

The root of some of these criticisms is that elsewhere in the world, there are very few tenure systems, and no time-limited employment. The system in the rest of the English speaking world, for example, is based on promotion up union-negotiated payscales, usually with automatic advancement towards the top of a grade, with the luckier faculty members being on 'permanent contracts' with no end-date. To go to the next grade (e.g. from associate professor to professor), an application must be submitted, and the criteria are as exacting as in North America. Simon Batterbury argues this system offers less opportunity for sabotage, and more adherence to social justice goals, even though 'permanent' staff members can be fired at any time.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Batterbury | first1 = S.P.J. | year = 2008 | title = Tenure or permanent contracts in North American higher education? A critical assessment | url = http://simonbatterbury.net/pubs/tenurebatterbury.pdf | journal = Policy Futures in Education | volume = 6 | issue = 3| pages = 286–297 | doi=10.2304/pfie.2008.6.3.286| doi-access = free }}</ref>

== Invisible labor ==
Invisible labor (aka invisible work) in academia refers to the work carried out by collegiate faculty that largely goes unrecognized in terms of tenure evaluation. Two major examples of invisible labor are student mentoring and university diversity/inclusionary work.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Dr. Christine Stanley on "Invisible Labor in the Academy"|url=http://www.utdailybeacon.com/campus_news/campus_events/dr-christine-stanley-on-invisible-labor-in-the-academy/article_495bc67e-c50b-11e9-9044-2707f042250b.html|last=DeMarco|first=Alexandra |website=The Daily Beacon|date=22 August 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Who's doing the heavy lifting in terms of diversity and inclusion work?|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/06/04/whos-doing-heavy-lifting-terms-diversity-and-inclusion-work|website=www.insidehighered.com|date=4 June 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref> Though student mentoring and inclusion are important aspects to student success, these tasks are often undervalued in faculty evaluations when compared to other academic work, such as publishing research and attaining grant money.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Role of Mentoring in College Access and Success {{!}} IHEP|url=http://www.ihep.org/research/publications/role-mentoring-college-access-and-success|website=www.ihep.org|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chang|first1=Mitchell J.|last2=Denson|first2=Nida|last3=Saenz|first3=Victor|last4=Misa|first4=Kimberly|date=2006|title=The educational benefits of sustaining cross-racial interaction among undergraduates|url=https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws%3A37649/|journal=Journal of Higher Education|volume=77|issue=3|language=en|pages=430–455|doi=10.1353/jhe.2006.0018|s2cid=141703907|issn=0022-1546}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Study suggests research plays bigger role in faculty evaluations, student evaluations could matter less|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/05/20/study-suggests-research-plays-bigger-role-faculty-evaluations-student-evaluations|website=www.insidehighered.com|date=20 May 2014 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The undesirable consequences of the growing pressure on faculty to get grants (essay) {{!}} Inside Higher Ed|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/07/25/undesirable-consequences-growing-pressure-faculty-get-grants-essay|website=www.insidehighered.com|date=25 July 2016 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The importance of recognizing faculty for their emotional support of students (essay) {{!}} Inside Higher Ed|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2017/09/15/importance-recognizing-faculty-their-emotional-support-students-essay|website=www.insidehighered.com|date=15 September 2017 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref>

This labor is often carried out disproportionately by faculty from marginalized backgrounds.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|author=Social Sciences Feminist Network Research Interest Group|date=2017|title=The Burden of Invisible Work in Academia: Social Inequalities and Time Use in Five University Departments|journal=Humboldt Journal of Social Relations|volume=39|pages=228–245|jstor=90007882|issn=0160-4341}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The invisible labor of marginalized faculty|url=https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2019/04/duke-university-lecturers-the-invisible-labor-of-marginalized-faculty|website=The Chronicle|date=3 April 2019 |access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Jimenez|first1=Miguel F.|last2=Laverty|first2=Theresa M.|last3=Bombaci|first3=Sara P.|last4=Wilkins|first4=Kate|last5=Bennett|first5=Drew E.|last6=Pejchar|first6=Liba|date=July 2019|title=Underrepresented faculty play a disproportionate role in advancing diversity and inclusion|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-019-0911-5|journal=Nature Ecology & Evolution|language=en|volume=3|issue=7|pages=1030–1033|doi=10.1038/s41559-019-0911-5|pmid=31160738|bibcode=2019NatEE...3.1030J |s2cid=173992954|issn=2397-334X|url-access=subscription}}</ref> While the majority of professors agree that diversity is very important to education, most of the diversity and inclusionary work is carried out by non-male, non-white, and first-generation faculty.<ref name=":1" /> Because of their diverse backgrounds, professors from marginalized backgrounds often experience increased pressure in performing diversity service tasks, while being held to the same standards for promotion.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Joseph|first1=Tiffany D.|last2=Hirshfield|first2=Laura E.|date=2011-01-01|title='Why don't you get somebody new to do it?' Race and cultural taxation in the academy|journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies|volume=34|issue=1|pages=121–141|doi=10.1080/01419870.2010.496489|s2cid=146703758|issn=0141-9870}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=What Is Faculty Diversity Worth to a University?|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/11/what-is-faculty-diversity-worth-to-a-university/508334/|last=Matthew|first=Patricia A.|date=2016-11-23|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref> While diversity among students has been increasing, the rate of diversity among professors has progressed at a much slower pace.<ref>{{Cite web|title=College faculty have become more racially and ethnically diverse, but remain far less so than students|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/31/us-college-faculty-student-diversity/|website=Pew Research Center|date=31 July 2019 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref> This disparity places a greater demand on minority professors to mentor students, who often seek out mentors from a similar background.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Unseen Labor of Mentoring|url=https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1825-the-unseen-labor-of-mentoring|last=Follow|website=ChronicleVitae for higher ed jobs, career tools and advice|date=12 June 2017 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref> Intersectionality appears to play a role in invisible labor, as professors with multiple marginalized identities experience increased pressure to engage in low-promotability work.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hirshfield|first1=Laura E.|last2=Joseph|first2=Tiffany D.|date=2012-03-01|title='We need a woman, we need a black woman': gender, race, and identity taxation in the academy|journal=Gender and Education|volume=24|issue=2|pages=213–227|doi=10.1080/09540253.2011.606208|s2cid=143503611|issn=0954-0253}}</ref>

==Defense of tenure for college professors==
Defenders of tenure, like Ellen Schrecker and Aeon J. Skoble, generally acknowledge flaws in how tenure approvals are run and problems in how tenured professors might use their time, security, and power; however, as Skoble puts it, the "downsides are either not as bad as claimed, or [are] costs outweighed by the benefits"—and he points out that the very debate about tenure in which he is engaging is made possible by the academic freedom which tenure makes possible.<ref>Aeon J. Skoble, "Tenure: The Good Outweighs the Bad -- A Surresponse to James E. Bruce," in ''Journal of Markets & Morality'' Volume 22, Number 1 (Spring 2019): 207–210, quoted at 208.</ref> "Tenure remains scholars' best defense of free inquiry and heterodoxy," writes Skoble, "especially in these times of heightened polarization and internet outrage. Let us focus on fixing it, not scrapping it."<ref>Aeon J. Skoble, "Tenure: The Good Outweighs the Bad -- A Surresponse to James E. Bruce," in ''Journal of Markets & Morality'' Volume 22, Number 1 (Spring 2019): 207–210, quoted at 210.</ref>

The job security granted by tenure is necessary to recruit talented individuals into university professorships, because in many fields private industry jobs pay significantly more; as Schrecker puts it, providing professors "the kind of job security that most other workers can only dream of" counterbalances universities' inability to compete with the private sector: "Universities, after all, are not corporations and cannot provide the kinds of financial remuneration that similarly educated individuals in other fields expect.".<ref>Ellen Schrecker, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cMWqBT9abYoC&q=tenure&pg=PA26 The Lost Soul of Higher Education: Corporatization, the Assault on Academic Freedom, and the End of the American University] (The New Press, 2010), p. 26</ref>  Furthermore, Schrecker continues, because research positions require extreme specialization, they must consolidate the frequency and intensity of performance evaluations across a given career, and they cannot have the same flexibility or turnover rates as other jobs, making the tenure process a practical necessity: "A mathematician cannot teach a class on medieval Islam, nor can an art historian run an organic chemistry lab.  Moreover, there is no way that the employing institution can provide the kind of retraining that would facilitate such a transformation... even the largest and most well-endowed institution lacks the resources to reevaluate and replace its medieval Islamicists and algebraic topologists every year.  Tenure thus lets the academic community avoid excessive turnover while still ensuring the quality of the institution's faculty.  It is structured around two assessments -- one at hiring, the other some six years later -- that are far more rigorous than those elsewhere in society and give the institution enough confidence in the ability of the successful candidates to retain them on a permanent basis."<ref>Ellen Schrecker, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cMWqBT9abYoC&q=tenure&pg=PA26 The Lost Soul of Higher Education: Corporatization, the Assault on Academic Freedom, and the End of the American University] (The New Press, 2010), p. 27-28</ref>

According to Skoble, tenure is essential because it protects academic freedom: not only in cases in which a scholar's politics may run counter to those of their department, institution, or funding bodies, but also and most often in cases when a scholar's work innovates in ways that challenge received wisdom in the field.  While stating that it has flaws, she asserts that tenure plays a crucial role in preserving academic freedom.<ref>Aeon J. Skoble, "Tenure: The Good Outweighs the Bad -- A Surresponse to James E. Bruce," in ''Journal of Markets & Morality'' Volume 22, Number 1 (Spring 2019): 207–210, quoted at 208-9.</ref>

Skoble argues categorically and plainly against critics that say "tenure protects incompetent professors": "My argument is that when this happens, it is a malfunction of the system, not an intrinsic feature of its proper use.  The way it is supposed to work is that incompetent professors do not get tenure in the first place.  The rebuttal is 'but they do, therefore tenure is a bad idea.'  But that is like arguing that because you ran a red light and caused a train wreck, driving is a bad idea."<ref>Aeon J. Skoble, "Tenure: The Good Outweighs the Bad -- A Surresponse to James E. Bruce," in ''Journal of Markets & Morality'' Volume 22, Number 1 (Spring 2019): 207–210, quoted at 209.</ref>

According to Perry A. Zirkel, a professor specializing in education law, it is incorrect to blame tenure for the difficulty in firing bad teachers; regardless of tenure, firing a teacher has substantial costs and involves an extended process of hearings and documentation.<ref name="Zirkel">{{cite journal|last1=Zirkel|first1=P. A.|title=Teacher Tenure Is Not the Real Problem|journal=The Phi Delta Kappan|date=2010|volume=92|issue=1|pages=76–77|jstor=25753636|doi=10.1177/003172171009200116|s2cid=154992916}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[h-index]]
* [[LIFO (education)]]
* [[Publish or perish]]
* [[Up or out]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary-inline|tenure}}

{{Americas topic|Academic tenure in}}
{{Academic positions}}

[[Category:Academic terminology]]
[[Category:University governance]]
[[Category:Academia in the United States]]
[[Category:Academia in Canada]]