What is Tenure?

Academic tenure is the process that faculty in the higher education system go through to acquire a contract for funded research and lecturing. Faculty can appeal for tenure to their department and are judged by a committee of peers and chairmen in their department. If they are found worthy of tenure, a contract is drawn and the newly-minted professor will be ready for a wonderful world of academic freedom and research projects. After about seven years, the professor is reviewed for contract renewal. Unless the professor has greatly tarnished the name of their institution during their tenure, the contract is almost always renewed. In extraordinary financial circumstances an institution may cut some of their tenured faculty, but this is very rare and requires a great deal of justification. Once tenured, a professor need not worry as much about their employment, as several laws are in place that protect the professor from being unreasonably discharged.

History

In order to better understand the issue, it might be wise to investigate the origin of tenure in the academic community. The modern tenure track system was developed in the United States, the roots of which were grown in the early 1900’s. The idea of academic freedom for professors was growing and in order to make the best use of this freedom, contractual employment became more and more popular. In order to make better use of the faculty they had and to save money on hiring new faculty every few years, academic tenure was eventually established. The purpose of this was to allow universities to keep that faculty that they wanted, giving lecturers more motivation to work harder, and to save money by not having to renew contracts. Today, the reasons for tenure remain very much the same, with a key exception being that the roles are reversed. Universities are not as adamant about granting tenure as the candidates applying for it. For nontenured lecturers, being granted tenure means being granted a dream, a life without the worry of unemployment.

Achieving Tenure

The process of earning tenure is dependent on the university in which it is attempted, but the usual process includes a certain number of works published in addition to a good track record in the field. In general, a lecturer must first request to be placed on the tenure employment track at his or her institution and then follow a series of interviews and committee meetings in order to review the candidate’s potential for becoming a fully tenured member of the faculty. This decision is reliant on the candidate’s past record for teaching, research, and academic publications. In other words, if the committee doesn’t believe that the potential professor has the proper credentials, then there is little chance of that candidate to acquire a tenure contract. There has been some controversy over prejudice in this process, most particularly an apparent gender bias, with some tenure boards denying tenure from personal bias or non-academic circumstances. This has led to several major incidents regarding to the rules of acquiring tenure and losing tenure.

Tenure in Literature

In Moo by Jane Smiley, one of the characters, Helen, is a tenured professor. In chapter 41, Helen's house and her way of life is described in great detail. The feeling of her home and the luxuriousness that it offers seems to indicate a kind of symbolism between the dream of tenure that so many college professors grasp for. It is very easy to apply this analogy to the tenure goal as, "[The house] was not ornate and enormous and movie-like, the sort of house anyone could buy with enough money, it was the sort of house that you loved to be in, but never have or reproduce, unless you were Helen herself, and since you would never be Helen herself, you were cut off forever from inhabiting this house, and from feeling, moment to moment, the pleasures of these colors and shapes and aromas" (Smiley). A young professor might experience this same feeling if they are invited to sit in on a tenured colleague's meeting or lecture and feel the luxury of security, the luxury of freedom of thought.