Academic Freedom and Tenure...Going...Going...Gone

Abstract

“Academic freedom” is a non-legal concept referring to the liberties claimed by professors through professional channels against administrative or political interference with research, teaching, and governance. It allows the professoriate to seek and discover, to teach and publish, without outside interference. Historically speaking, academic freedom's heart and soul lie not in free speech, but in professional autonomy and collegial self-governance. It defends the community of disciplines that make up the modern university.

Academic freedom's linkage to tenure is that the requirement of a due process hearing before termination for cause protects the fundamental values of the university: disinterested inquiry, reasoned and critical discourse, and the ethos of liberal education. The most succinct definition of tenure merely provides that “no person continuously retained as a full-time faculty member beyond a specified lengthy period of probationary service may thereafter be dismissed without adequate cause.” Realistically, “tenure is for all normal purposes a guarantee of appointment until retirement.” Tenure is inextricably connected to and a guarantor of academic freedom.

The current highly partisan political climate has undermined the normal barriers protecting academic freedom and tenure. These widely accepted principles have been attacked and even breached by politicians, donors, university administrators, and trustees. Throughout the nation, particularly in the so-called red states, higher educational institutions have faced efforts to disrupt and censor speech. The current highly partisan political climate has undermined the normal barriers protecting academic freedom and tenure. These widely accepted principles have been attacked and even breached by politicians, donors, university administrators, and trustees. Throughout the nation, though particularly in the so-called red states, higher educational institutions have faced efforts to disrupt and censor speech.

The paper discusses in detail six different recent widely publicized instances where speech or research has been censored, donor influence was inappropriate, or tenure has been undermined. They involved Georgetown, M.I.T., University of Georgia Public University System, University of Mississippi, and Yale University.

Some of the threats to academic freedom and tenure result from changes in the educational landscape and financial pressures on colleges and universities. Others are the product of the ideological politicization of education. Whether tenure and academic freedom as we know it will survive in traditional form or continue to erode and decline is uncertain. This paper argues that the benefits of tenure and traditional academic freedom norms far outweigh any weaknesses. It offers suggestions to preserve and improve both principles.

Keywords: Academic freedom, tenure, discrimination, law and politics, constitutional law