F. Even tenured professors can be terminated for cause. They enjoy greater protection, however, in order to protect academic freedom. But they are not invulnerable.
Tenure Tenure is pernicious. It protects those who do not need protection. In a dictatorship tenure would be meaningless - they would just exile you or worse. In a secular democracy tenure is unnecessary. The excuse of academic freedom is just that. It was introduced in the UK in the early 19th century to protect dissenting members of churches other than the Church of England (which ruled the roost in university appointments) and Jews (who have historically been seriously persecuted) from reprisals from the CofE (which was not shy in exhibiting such conduct). It required a vote of the Privy Council to eject a Professor under the tenure regime. Since, the 1920, with universal suffrage and extensive legal remedies, tenure has been unnecessary and it became a job protection scam. It has spread around the world and is now a barrier to productivity in universities; worse, it has created by implication a differential between tenured and non-tenured faculty where none is justified. I voluntarily gave up tenure in 1983 and will never accept it again. Not many of my colleagues who used to shared tenure with me have followed my action. But tenure is dying in the UK because to get promoted (since Mrs Thatcher's reforms) the person has to give up tenure (though some places are re-instating it by the back door). If well off educated faculty require tenure to protect them but the rest of the country's employees must get along without it, we have got our priorities wrong.
Good question Good question and it was asked after I had left the room where I had insisted on no tenure by the Dean of Engineering who, apparently, wondered if I was 'mentally sound' or suffering a 'mid-life crisis'. (According to my informants many months later who were at the meeting - the Principal, who chaired the meeting and who had been years before my External Examiner for my MSc thesis in another university, who said that having known me for years he was not surprised at my request.) Why? Because I had made many statements for some years on the issue and these statements reflected my disgust at the people I knew in several universities who hid behind their tenure to be, well, less than productive (not just from age) and in some cases were downright destructive and obstructive. I decided that I would earn my living as an academic in the same vulnerable position as the 'ordinary' people employed by the University and, nota bene, as the most highly regarded of my academic colleagues - purely on merit. So far it has worked for me, even though I have been on three months notice at any one moment. As for "academic freedom" I have never been threatened (except once by students who objected noisily to my public support for academics doing 'star wars' research) and never by university administrations who, on occasion, have found my views on tenure uncomfortable. Presumably, tenure removal would also remove a large carrot for conformity.
Professor Kennedy: Great post. As a student, you’re the kind of professor I would look for. You might be interested in knowing that in the United States, the majority of elementary (primary) school teachers enjoy tenure and with the power of the teachers’ union makes it virtually impossible to terminate all but the absolute worst. And even with the worst it can take years.
Not impossible at all. As long as you've created the paper trail, it isn't all that difficult. The #1 reason why such teachers continue to exist is not unions, but rather that management (the administration) are usually unwilling to do what is necessary in terms of documentation. Tom Nixon
