Academic tenure defines a faculty member’s job security at a higher education institution. Achieving tenure signifies that a professor can only be dismissed for significant cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as the closure of a program or severe financial difficulties.
Tenure is a prestigious achievement in academia, often celebrated as a milestone. While it’s a privilege earned through years of dedication, recent studies indicate a trend where higher education institutions are not consistently rewarding academic work with tenure.
The process of granting tenure is intricate, involving substantial professional evaluation and numerous stakeholders. While universities generally recognize tenure’s crucial role in attracting leading researchers, the logistical and organizational aspects of tracking, reviewing, and awarding tenure can be complex.
A Look into the History of Tenure
While higher education in the U.S. began with the establishment of Harvard in 1636, tenure as a standard faculty right didn’t become widespread until the 20th century.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has been instrumental in setting standards that ensure fair treatment for faculty members who have earned tenure. Since its inception in 1915, the AAUP advocated for academic rights, but it was in 1940, through collaboration with the Association of American Colleges and Universities, that the principles of tenure were formalized in the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure.
The 1940 Statement aimed to bolster support for distinguished faculty. The AAUP asserted that for a university to meet its “obligations to its students and to society,” it must guarantee academics the freedom to teach with economic security. Over time, hundreds of higher education institutions have endorsed this statement, incorporating it into collective bargaining agreements and faculty handbooks.
The Core Benefits of Tenure
The AAUP and the Association of American Colleges and Universities emphasize that tenure benefits society at large. By guaranteeing comprehensive rights to academics, colleges and universities can attract the most qualified and talented faculty, thus providing superior education.
Tenure essentially provides two fundamental rights: academic freedom and economic security.
The Pursuit of Academic Freedom
Before tenure protections, academics often felt constrained in their teaching, avoiding controversial subjects for fear of negative repercussions. The 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure empowered tenured professors to explore a wider range of academic topics. This not only benefits educators but also enriches society by offering students a more comprehensive and diverse education.
Granting tenure gives instructors the latitude to pursue research and publication, provided they fulfill their core academic responsibilities.
Ensuring Economic Security
Job security is another significant advantage of tenure. While many academic positions are filled on an annual contract basis, tenured faculty enjoy long-term employment, often until retirement. After a probationary period, typically up to seven years, academics who achieve tenure are generally assured of their position, except under specific, uncommon circumstances.
One such circumstance is “termination for cause,” which refers to dismissal for a specific serious reason. Although rare, tenured professors may face termination for reasons such as:
- Incompetence
- Immoral conduct
- Violation of university policies
- Negligence
Tenured academics can also be dismissed if the institution faces severe financial difficulties making it impossible to maintain their salaries. Additionally, program closures may lead to job loss for tenured faculty associated with those programs, unless they can transition to other suitable roles within the university.
Barring these unusual situations, academic tenure provides a significant level of job security for the duration of a professor’s career.
Current Trends in Academic Tenure
According to a 2022 AAUP survey report, a concerning trend shows that 53.5% of institutions have replaced tenure-eligible positions with contingent faculty positions. This indicates a rise in part-time and full-time roles that do not offer tenure tracks.
The report highlighted that in 2019, only 10.5% of faculty positions were tenure-track, while nearly 63% were contingent, non-tenure roles. The AAUP has voiced concerns about this decline, emphasizing that tenure remains “the bulwark in the defense of academic freedom.”
Despite the decrease in tenure-track positions, the 2022 AAUP study also noted a positive shift: more institutions are focusing on equitable tenure opportunities. For example, 82% of institutions now allow tenure-track faculty to pause their probationary period for childcare responsibilities. Furthermore, while some groups remain underrepresented in tenured positions, nearly 60% of institutions are implementing or considering DEI criteria in tenure standards, and 39.4% have evaluated their tenure criteria for implicit biases.
The Qualification Process for Tenure
Faculty hired on a tenure track typically undergo a probationary period of full-time employment before tenure is granted. The AAUP recommends that this period not exceed seven years, although extensions may be granted, particularly for parental leave or elder care.
During this probationary period, faculty members should have the same academic freedom as tenured professors. Institutions are required to provide at least one year’s notice if they decide not to offer tenure at the end of the probationary period.
However, even after years of service, tenure is not automatically awarded. The tenure review process is rigorous and comprehensive.
Common Challenges in the Tenure Process
Hidden costs exist within faculty promotion and tenure review processes. Paper-based systems require extensive printing of documents, sometimes hundreds of pages per file. Storing and archiving these paper files consumes significant space, often filling rooms with filing cabinets that could be used more effectively. Beyond the costs of time and resources, paper-based systems are environmentally unfriendly.
Moreover, inefficient tenure processes consume valuable time for both candidates and reviewers, detracting from their teaching and research activities.
Institutions that adopt basic digital systems might believe they are improving efficiency by digitizing paper files. While this can be an improvement over purely paper-based methods, it can also introduce new problems. Information may be scattered across different locations, requiring extensive searching and communication to compile a candidate’s file for review. While functional, this approach is far from optimal.
Both paper-based and rudimentary digital processes are particularly vulnerable when it comes to securing confidential tenure materials. Paper files stored in poorly secured areas are susceptible to theft or unauthorized access. Similarly, digital files on shared drives can face issues like file corruption, misplacement, permission errors, and accidental or malicious access.
Transitioning to an Advanced Digital Interface
To meet the growing demands of the tenure review process, institutions need to move beyond outdated paper systems and basic digital solutions to embrace comprehensive digital platforms.
The Interfolio Faculty Information System provides universities with a solution to move away from paper-based processes and fragmented digital tools. It centralizes all documentation within a single, web-based interface. This transition reduces paper waste, eliminates bulky filing cabinets, and establishes a digital system that simplifies the compilation, organization, sharing, and access of crucial files for all stakeholders.
Interfolio’s system streamlines the entire tenure process:
- Faculty reviewers benefit from efficient, user-friendly tools designed specifically for tenure review. The interface enables reviewers to annotate documents, manage external evaluations, communicate with candidates and committees, and seamlessly transmit complete digital packets.
- Administrators can proactively manage review cycles by tracking timelines, initiating reviews, selecting relevant faculty, automatically generating review cases, and integrating candidate information from their vita – all within a unified platform.
- Administrators gain powerful insights into institutional DEI progress through the ability to monitor promotion and tenure outcomes over time.
- Candidates experience a more transparent and streamlined process with accessible tools that empower them to create well-organized, high-quality digital portfolios, containing all necessary information to support their tenure application, regardless of their academic field.
To discover how Interfolio can benefit your institution, schedule a demo today.
