Tenure rules must change, report says

The American Council on Education released a report last Thursday that has sparked national debate about whether it's time for higher education to change. The report, titled "Creating Options: Models for flexible Tenure-Track Faculty Career Pathways," recommended that institutions throughout the country adopt less rigid tenure-track systems to give young faculty members a fair chance of pursuing long-term careers in education.\nWith funds from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a group of 13 research scholars and faculty from universities in the United States collaborated for more than a year and a half to address this issue. While the team did not conduct original research for the project, it analyzed a body of work others had done on faculty careers. The researchers made a number of suggestions based on the findings, one of which was to give young professors up to 10 years to earn tenure, instead of six. The report also said if universities do not make their policies more flexible, they will lose a number of women faculty, especially those who want to start families.\nLongtime IU professor and former administrator Henry Remak, who has had tenure since 1950, said he does not think the current system should change.\n"Six years gives you a reasonable basis for evaluating how that person will work out for the next 40-45 years," Remak said. "The employer has to have the right to say 'these candidates aren't right.' It would be foolish to extend the trial period because once you appoint someone for 10 years it's going to be harder and harder to tell them 'sorry.'"\nGloria Thomas, associate project director for the American Council on Education, disagrees. \n"As a result of the federal ban on mandatory retirement, faculty members are working longer, not only skewing the traditional age distribution of the faculty, but leaving fewer opportunities for younger faculty to move up the ranks," Thomas said in an e-mail. "It is critical for institutional leaders to begin dialogues regarding how best to devise and implement strategies for flexible tenure-track faculty careers now primarily because of the wave of faculty retirements that are taking place throughout U.S. higher education."\nThomas said these retirements provide a prime opportunity for the academic career path in higher education to be reshaped. Thomas finds it troubling that married women leave academia at a disproportionately higher rate than males; she said women with children under six are half as likely to enter tenure-track positions as men who have children in the same age group. Thomas also said the data showed that fewer women and minority faculty are tenured compared to white males. If faculty had more time to prepare for their tenure review and promotion, she thinks these trends could change.\n"We recommend up to 10 years for faculty who need more time due to either personal or professional reasons," Thomas said.\nIf a faculty member has a child born with health problems or a disability, for example, he or she might need time away from the busy teaching and research schedule to tend to the child's needs. Also, she said if a faculty member has the opportunity to pursue a research or consulting project for the government or industry, he or she should be able to take time out to do so while staying on the tenure track.\nAlthough it varies at different institutions, at IU the tenure decision is generally made during the sixth year of a faculty member's tenure-track appointment. To be considered, faculty members are expected to have finished a terminal degree -- the highest degree in their respective field -- and to have made achievements in teaching, research or service. Faculty who are not awarded tenure might choose to stay for a seventh year, but once that year ends so does their contract with IU.\nIU's tenure process requires candidates to first submit a collection of their best work that demonstrates their excellence in teaching, research and service to their department. After a thorough review of the candidate's file, other tenured faculty in that department vote on whether their colleague should be given tenure. The particular school or college then reviews the recommendation, votes and sends it to the dean. The Campus Tenure Advisory Committee, the dean of the faculties and the chancellor all must approve the tenure candidate. Finally, the application goes to the president, who has the authority to make the final decision. \nRemak, who served as vice chancellor and dean of faculties from 1969-1974, said he is familiar with the tenure system from both the faculty and administrative perspectives. He thinks it's true that women could potentially face a greater challenge when trying to juggle their professional and personal lives, but the system's standards for men and women still need to be equal. Remak said he is skeptical of the claims set forth in the report because they are simply too broad and ideological.\n"The whole thing is much too cut and dry," Remak said. "There is so much variety in the American higher education institutions that this kind of sweeping change is unrealistic. The truth of it is you have to go from case to case to make a decision for granting tenure."\nJeanne Sept, vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and dean of faculties, said recent analyses of the last 25 years show that male and female faculty members at IU have achieved tenure at identical rates.\n"I think we have quite a fair and flexible tenure system, with many checks and balances," Sept said. "A faculty member can 'stop the tenure clock' for a period of time if they take a family medical leave for the birth or adoption of a child, although the total number of such leaves any individual can take is limited."\nOnce a faculty member has tenure, he or she is evaluated annually. IUB Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis said it is expected these faculty members will continue to perform at a high level of achievement. \n"A young person who comes to a place like IU understands what the expectations are," Gros Louis said. "If done right, I believe the system is very humane."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Lindsay Lyon at lrlyon@indiana.edu.