Imagine a guarantee of straight As between now and the time you graduate. Given this, would you still go to class?
For some critics of tenure, that situation is analogous to the process which provides professors with the academic freedom to teach and research whatever they want without worrying about job security. Some lament its potential for promoting laziness - one that Tufts provost Sol Gittleman wrote has "given many academics protection to be despicable human beings and miserable colleagues."
The tenure distinction is shared by approximately 75 percent of Tufts faculty members. The "tenure clock" starts ticking when a professor is offered tenure by the administration, and a review occurs after six years. In the meantime, the professor is expected to demonstrate his or her commitment to teaching, scholarship, and to the University through service in their departments.
It's a process that Child Development professor Chip Gidney finished last spring, and one he said provides job security "almost unheard of in 21st century America."
"It is one of the most wonderful aspects of university life, frankly, and is the reason that so many of us work so hard to get tenure," Gidney said.
It's also an aspect that has long been the subject of criticism for its lengthy process and its effect on motivation. Gidney said that while people want time to put together their tenure packets, he sympathizes with criticisms about length. "I think that many professors would argue that drawing out this excruciating process, and trust me, it is psychologically excruciating, would constitute cruel and unusual punishment," he said.
The process sometimes causes universities to lose faculty members. Paul Lopes of the sociology department was denied tenure recently and is subsequently leaving Tufts. "Tenure is a grueling process for all junior faculty," Lopes said.
The biggest critics of tenure, though, argue that it saps professors' motivation. Gittleman has stopped short of calling for its abolition but said in a Daily Viewpoint last month that its abuses have caused him to "at least think it over."
Still, the provost said eliminating tenure would eventually cause equally unfortunate problems. "[Tenure] is still here, if we got rid of it abuses would start on the other side and in 50 years we'd have it back," Gittleman said.
Not surprisingly, tenured professors are staunch defendants of the practice. Sheila Emerson, an tenured member of the English department, said that job security does lead to a change in attitude, but not in motivation.
"I wouldn't say I work any less hard, probably harder," she said. "The emotion is different, the anxiety isn't there... that has to be a much happier experience than not having a job and going from year to year," she said.
Both Emerson and Gidney say the freedom that tenure offers is actually beneficial in the classroom.
"What tenure does is that it allows a professor complete intellectual freedom," Gidney said. "She can study what she wants, make controversial claims if she wants, without fear of reprisal from the administration. It also means that a professor can devote more time to his classes, if he wants."
At Tufts, tenure procedures have not vastly changed over the last two decades. It's a process that's not very different from other schools, in practice and in number of professors tenured. Gittleman said that some schools keep the number of tenured faculty at 50 percent, while offering "unofficial tenure" to professors until other tenured professors leave.
Without a mandated retirement age, tenured professors can continue at Tufts for a considerably long time. Gittleman said how long a professor can remain energetic is an important concern.
Another concern is the ubiquitous balance between scholarship and teaching that is only exacerbated with tenure. Most liberal arts universities, Tufts included, say that tenured professors should strike a balance between the two. It's a standard that Lopes said "doesn't necessarily work out that way."
Gidney acknowledged the dichotomy. "There is certainly a tension between research and teaching... This tension exists for all university professors but I think that at places like Tufts, the administration takes good teaching seriously" he said. "I don't think that one can be a horrible teacher here and still get tenure." Gittleman agreed, saying that the University looks for the best possible teacher and best possible researcher.
How are those judgment calls made? Critics say the process is entirely subjective, in that professors' work is scrutinized and irrevocably judged by members in other departments as well as the professor's own.
"Disciplinary politics can play a role in individual cases," Lopes said. Often tenure can depend on how people view scholarship, he added.
Gittleman says that professors have their own biases toward their subject and even toward how another professor conducts his or her research. He said that people involved in the process try to make "the best guess possible" on who will also continue to be productive.
Gidney feels that despite departmental politics within the University, the process is thorough enough that it does not play a significant role. "Of course politics play a role in the tenure decision, it would be naive to suggest that they don't," he said. "However, because the process is such a rigorous process and because there are so many outside reviewers who are not embroiled in departmental or university politics, I'm confident that politics don't play the major role in tenure decisions."
But Gidney maintains that the tenure process is not entirely objective. "Is it a subjective decision? Absolutely - people who don't know you, judge your work, your productivity, your teaching - that's always a subjective decision. I cannot imagine how it could be otherwise," he said.
All these prblems help perpetuate a high education discussion on its eventual elimination. That option is obviously unpopular among faculty members, and administrators such as Gittleman have acknowledged that the solution is likely not abolition.
And Dean Susan Ernst said that tenure at Tufts should be here to stay. "I personally believe strongly in tenure, sure maybe there are a few people who abuse the privilege of tenure, but I still believe in it," she said.
Gidney said tenure at Tufts does warrant too much scrutiny. "Some university systems have discussed abandoning the tenure system and making university teaching more like other jobs that have annual reviews," he said. "Personally, I think this is not necessary at Tufts because, from what I can tell, all of my tenured colleagues continue to be productive and continue to work hard."
Lopes believes that tenure is important but certain practices should be reevaluated. There is a lack of openness in the process, he said, that could be bettered, as well finding a middle ground in disciplinary politics.
Ernst said the potential for eventual tenure is considered as early as when a professor is first hired. "When we hire people we ask, is this someone who will flourish here and be recognized as an expert in their field? We hire people who we think will get tenure at Tufts," she said.
