tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/adjunct-faculty-18166/articlesAdjunct faculty – The Conversation2021-06-18T12:28:53Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1623252021-06-18T12:28:53Z2021-06-18T12:28:53ZAcademic tenure: What it is and why it matters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406811/original/file-20210616-3862-1rhxvt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=131%2C0%2C5335%2C3655&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the 2018-2019 academic school year, 45.1% of professors at U.S. colleges and universities overall had tenure.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/university-lecturer-addressing-his-students-royalty-free-image/871711634?adppopup=true">Tom Werner/DigitalVision</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>How would you like a job that was guaranteed and allowed you to do your work as you see fit and speak your mind with no repercussions? Most people would, and that’s the idea behind academic tenure. In the following Q&A, George Justice, an English professor and author of “<a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/how-be-dean">How to Be a Dean</a>,” explains the origin of tenure and the waning protections that it affords professors who have it.</em></p>
<h2>What is academic tenure?</h2>
<p>Of all the things a university professor can achieve in their career, few are as desirable as academic tenure. Academic tenure is a system of strong job protections that virtually guarantees a university professor will never be fired or let go except in the most extreme of circumstances. A key idea is to allow faculty to speak freely – whether on campus or in public – without fear of reprisal.</p>
<p>Achieving tenure is not easy or quick. First, aspiring professors must secure a “tenure track” position after excelling in a Ph.D. program, followed in many cases by one or more postdoctoral fellowships. Then, in a probationary period that can last from 5 to 10 years, but which <a href="https://cen.acs.org/careers/employment/Tick-tock-Should-we-stop-the-tenure-clock/98/i21">typically takes 7 years</a>, faculty must demonstrate academic excellence in teaching, research and service to the community.</p>
<p>The probationary period is then followed by a year-long process during which a professor’s work is evaluated by peer faculty – both inside and outside of the university where they teach – as well as administrators at their institution. </p>
<p>If they succeed in getting tenure, they can be promoted to the rank of “associate professor with tenure.” But if they are denied tenure, usually it means they have one more year to build up their credentials and find employment at another college or university – or leave academia altogether to find work in a different industry.</p>
<p>A little less than half of all full-time faculty at colleges and universities in the U.S. – <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d19/tables/dt19_316.81.asp">45.1%</a>, or <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d19/tables/dt19_315.10.asp">375,286</a> according to 2019 data – have tenure. </p>
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<h2>When did tenure first appear?</h2>
<p>The tenure system was created in the early 20th century as a partnership between the faculty and the institutions that employ them. Faculty came to be represented nationally by the American Association of University Professors, which was founded in 1915 by two of the era’s most famous intellectuals: <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dewey/">John Dewey</a> and <a href="https://philosophy.jhu.edu/about/early-hopkins-philosophers/lovejoy/">Arthur O. Lovejoy</a>. The association wasn’t a union, although now it does help faculty unionize.</p>
<p>In 1940, the association teamed up with the Association of American Colleges – now the Association of American Colleges and Universities – to define tenure as a system providing “<a href="https://www.aaup.org/issues/tenure">an indefinite appointment</a> that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency and program discontinuation.” </p>
<p>The real origins of the concept, though, lie in the practice of 19th-century German universities. Faculty in these universities created wide autonomy for their work on the basis of their <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/178570">pursuit of knowledge for its own sake</a>. The greatest freedom and power went to those professors at the top of a rigid hierarchy. </p>
<p>In its 1915 “<a href="http://aaup-ui.org/Documents/Principles/Gen_Dec_Princ.pdf">Declaration of Principles</a>,” the association viewed faculty tenure as a property right and academic freedom as “essential to civilization.” “Academic freedom” includes rights both within and outside a professor’s daily work: “freedom of inquiry and research; freedom of teaching within the university or college; and freedom of extra-mural utterance and action.” The last of these means that faculty can speak up on matters of public concern outside of their specialized expertise without fear of losing their job. </p>
<h2>Whom does it benefit?</h2>
<p>As a job protection, tenure directly benefits college teachers. Indirectly, tenure benefits a society that thrives through the education and research that <a href="https://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Pages/economics-of-higher-education.aspx">colleges and universities create</a>.</p>
<p>The job protections are significant. Except in extreme circumstances, faculty who have achieved tenure can expect to be paid for teaching and research for as long as they hold their jobs. There is no retirement age. And colleges only very rarely go out of business. </p>
<p>Tenure’s benefits have weakened in recent years. Financially battered by the past year of COVID-19, institutions have let tenured faculty go merely with <a href="https://www.aaup.org/report/covid-19-and-academic-governance">general assertions of financial stress</a> rather than the deep crisis of “financial exigency.” </p>
<p>And termination “with cause” has evolved in recent years. For instance, federal law, including <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/sex-discrimination/title-ix-education-amendments/index.html">Title IX of the Federal Education Act</a>, has pushed institutions to fire or force the resignation of faculty members who violate core principles of equal treatment, especially through sexual harassment of students. </p>
<h2>Why is tenure controversial?</h2>
<p>There are economic, political, ideological and social reasons why tenure has come under fire <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/04/04/archives/education-tenure-under-attack-by-right-and-left.html">over the past 50 years</a>. </p>
<p>From an economic perspective, higher education is big business with a <a href="https://agb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/guardians_2018_talking_points_economy.pdf">big impact</a> on the U.S. economy. State universities are among the biggest businesses. And some legislators believe universities should be treated simply like businesses. Professors would have no more job security than any other employees and could be fired without a rigorous process led by their faculty peers.</p>
<p>“What happens in our private sector should be applied to our universities as well,” <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2021/02/11/iowa-legislator-wants-to-end-tenure-at-state-universities/">argued Iowa State Senator Bradley Zaun</a>, who introduced legislation that would eliminate tenure in his state’s public universities. The <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2021/04/01/iowa-legislature-bill-ban-tenure-public-universities-professors-fails-advance/4836676001/">measure failed</a>.</p>
<p>And in socially conservative parts of the country, legislators allege that professors have hypocritically violated students’ <a href="https://journalstar.com/news/local/education/free-speech-controversies-at-center-of-nu-debate/article_689ef989-9d33-5311-a728-d2b8c650cd5d.html">freedom of speech</a>, including by interfering with their participation in conservative student political groups. </p>
<p>It’s not just from social conservatives. Colleges have suspended faculty members for <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/02/01/professor-suspended-using-n-word-class-discussion-language-james-baldwin-essay">using racial slurs</a> that offend students. And faculty have sued the University of Arkansas over a revised tenure policy that would <a href="https://www.thefire.org/faculty-sue-university-of-arkansas-system-over-new-tenure-policy/">weaken protections</a> when faculty challenge social norms.</p>
<h2>What is its future?</h2>
<p>Tenure continues to exist in American higher education, and surveyed provosts – the chief academic officers on their campuses – maintain <a href="https://www.niso.org/niso-io/2021/04/inside-higher-ed-releases-new-survey-results">support for retaining the tenure system on their campuses</a>.</p>
<p>But those same academic leaders have hired <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d19/tables/dt19_315.10.asp">increasing numbers</a> of less expensive faculty without tenure over the past few decades.</p>
<p>In recent years, the percentage of tenured college teachers has <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/tables/dt11_278.asp">fallen to 45.1%</a> from <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d95/dtab232.asp">nearly 65% in 1980</a>. Recent analysis suggests that if part-time faculty are included, a <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/10/12/about-three-quarters-all-faculty-positions-are-tenure-track-according-new-aaup">mere quarter</a> of college teachers have tenure.</p>
<p>While research shows diverse faculty and peer viewpoints lead to a <a href="https://wiseli.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/662/2018/11/Benefits_Challenges.pdf">richer education for students</a>, the tenured faculty are <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d19/tables/dt19_315.20.asp">whiter and more male</a> than the whole body of college teachers, let alone the U.S. population. Indeed, the tenured faculty has become demographically inconsistent with <a href="https://www.aacu.org/aacu-news/newsletter/2019/march/facts-figures">the students in their classrooms</a>: 75% of college professors are white, whereas <a href="https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/tables/2010-2019/national/asrh/nc-est2019-asr6h.xlsx">51.1%</a> of the population under 24 years old was non-Hispanic white in 2019.</p>
<p>Is the practice of academic freedom “essential to civilization”? Does it require tenure for faculty? Or is tenure a destructive job perk that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703618504575460252029820466">limits innovation</a> in an important service industry by entrenching faculty who may be mediocre and old-fashioned in their teaching and research? The one thing guaranteed in the future of tenure is that as long as it exists, it will continue to be controversial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162325/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Justice is Principal of Dever Justice LLC, a higher education consulting firm. </span></em></p>Academic tenure – a system of job protections for university professors – came about in the early 20th century. Will it survive in the 21st century? A scholar weighs in.George Justice, Professor of English, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1505252021-02-05T13:05:53Z2021-02-05T13:05:53ZGraduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379769/original/file-20210120-15-16tqhid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3927%2C5890&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Doctoral programs often prepare graduates to become professors, but those jobs are scarce today.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/student-stands-and-reads-a-book-among-the-stacks-in-the-news-photo/586158350?adppopup=true">JHU Sheridan Libraries/Gado/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There used to be a time – back in the 1960s – when it made sense for doctoral programs to prepare students to become professors. For that <a href="https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/may-2003/we-historians-the-golden-age-and-beyond">brief postwar moment</a>, there were more jobs for professors than there were doctorate holders to fill them.</p>
<p>But that time is <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c12863/c12863.pdf">long gone</a>. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/bad-job-market-phds/479205/">Professorships are scarce</a> now, and most people with doctorates will end up working <a href="https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/doctoratework/2017/html/sdr2017_dst_12-3.html">outside of academia</a>.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/new-phd#:%7E:text=The%20New%20PhD%20is%20a,change%20agents%20throughout%20our%20world">The New PhD: How to Build a Better Graduate Education</a>,” former professor and university president Robert Weisbuch and I argue that graduate programs aren’t preparing doctoral students for the jobs they’ll likely have outside college classrooms or laboratories. </p>
<p>We propose a new design for graduate school that points graduates toward fulfilling work both inside and outside the academy. </p>
<h2>Rethinking doctorates</h2>
<p>Instead of seeking work across society, many highly skilled doctorate holders end up teaching a course here and there – for <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/20/new-report-says-many-adjuncts-make-less-3500-course-and-25000-year">low wages</a> – in the vanishing hope of full-time jobs as professors. This <a href="https://www.hepg.org/her-home/issues/harvard-educational-review-volume-89,-issue-4/herbooknote/the-adjunct-underclass">proliferation of adjunct labor</a> devalues the people doing it and the academic workplace together. </p>
<p>We argue that the problem starts with an intense desire to stay in academia no matter what. Professorial jobs are scarcer than ever, but doctoral education <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03191-7">socializes students</a> to want those jobs above all others.</p>
<p>Professors model a rarefied existence without educating students to prepare for the actual alternatives they will face. For example, <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-degree-of-uncommon-success/?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in">scientists are encouraged to narrowly specialize</a> within their subfields, while <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/8845365/manifesto_for_the_humanities">humanities scholars are given few opportunities to collaborate with others</a> in ways that are common in most workplaces. </p>
<p>In both cases, we believe graduate students would be better served by a curriculum that encourages a wider variety of skills and capacities, including working in project teams and translating their work to nonspecialized audiences. <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/new-phd#:%7E:text=The%20New%20PhD%20is%20a,change%20agents%20throughout%20our%20world">Our research finds</a> that such a program would draw more people of color and more women, and that graduates would be <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/new-phd#:%7E:text=The%20New%20PhD%20is%20a,change%20agents%20throughout%20our%20world">more competitive in today’s job market</a>. </p>
<h2>Why should anyone care?</h2>
<p>What happens to the doctorate holder ripples outward. The doctoral curriculum shapes liberal arts curriculum because doctoral programs train most professors who teach liberal arts subjects. And the way universities design and <a href="https://www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files/LEAP/leap_vision_summary.pdf">teach the liberal arts</a> affects colleges, high schools and every other level of the education pyramid.</p>
<p>We’d like to see an academic experience that remains rich in scholarship but is far less hermetic. In “The New PhD,” we offer real-life examples of programs that offer disciplinary expertise while recognizing the diverse career outcomes that students will face. </p>
<p>A new humanities doctoral program at University of Iowa’s <a href="https://obermann.uiowa.edu/programs/humanities-public-good">Obermann Center</a> and the <a href="https://versatilehumanists.duke.edu/internships/">Versatile Humanists program</a> at Duke University are examples. They place graduate student interns in a variety of workplaces outside the university. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/outcomes-based-graduate-school-the-humanities-edition/">Lehigh University</a> and other schools have used alumni career data to redesign their curriculum and prepare graduates for the jobs they will actually encounter. For example, the department recently added a certificate program in writing instruction. </p>
<p>Programs like Lehigh’s admit smaller student cohorts to advise students individually as they progress. We support this curated approach to doctoral education, and believe a program should admit only as many students as it can advise carefully and attentively. </p>
<h2>Valuing people of color and women</h2>
<p>Doctoral students don’t resemble the demographics of the country at large. Black Americans, Latinos and Native Americans together make up about <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/AGE775219">30% of the U.S. population</a> but only <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17306/report/who-earns-a-us-doctorate/race-and-ethnicity.cfm#:%7E:text=Participation%20in%20doctoral%20education%20by,of%20Hispanic%20or%20Latino%20doctorate">15% of U.S. doctorates</a>. Women are <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201600035">greatly underrepresented</a> in graduate STEM programs.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>And once women and people of color get through the door, they often feel a <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/03/study-finds-serious-attrition-issues-black-and-latino-doctoral-students">lack of support</a> from their institutions. A 2014 study found <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/03/study-finds-serious-attrition-issues-black-and-latino-doctoral-students">fewer than half</a> of Black and Latino doctoral students in the behavioral and social sciences earned a doctoral degree within seven years. More than a third left their programs without finishing.</p>
<p>Graduate schools can recruit more diverse students by looking to the undergraduate pipeline and even high schools. Many undergrad programs recruit heavily among students from marginalized groups. But graduate schools compete for a much smaller pool of qualified and interested candidates, and such recruitment can strain departmental budgets.</p>
<p>One way to do this is for graduate faculty to work with teachers at all levels to excite young people about their fields. The City University of New York has done this successfully with its <a href="http://www.diversiphd.com/about">Pipeline Program</a>, which immerses undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups in academic culture. Surveys tell us such social engagement helps <a href="https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.13-02-0021">persuade underrepresented students</a> to pursue graduate study. </p>
<p>At CUNY and elsewhere, on behalf of students from all backgrounds, work is being done to make doctoral education more attentive to the reality that doctorate holders face. Our book describes that work and brings it to light.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150525/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leonard Cassuto does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Graduate programs can be rich in scholarship and still prepare students for real-world careers.Leonard Cassuto, Professor of English and American Studies, Fordham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/659772016-10-04T19:15:27Z2016-10-04T19:15:27ZPart-time lecturers are the norm in Kenya. There’s a plan to reverse the practice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139544/original/image-20160928-560-81472.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kenyan students don't get the best teaching from hurried, stretched part-time lecturers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nathan Holland/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More and more universities are using part-time lecturers rather than employing full-time faculty members. In <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/23/world/europe/part-timers-crowd-academic-hiring.html?_r=0">the US</a>, for instance, it’s estimated that <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/noodleeducation/2015/05/28/more-than-half-of-college-faculty-are-adjuncts-should-you-care/#6b29dccb1d9b">about 50%</a> of university teachers are only employed on a part-time basis.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://hbr.org/product/agile-talent-how-to-source-and-manage-outside-experts/14149-HBK-ENG">recent study</a> found that just 35% of these adjunct scholars would like to become full-time teachers. Many have other positions beyond universities and <a href="http://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ihe/article/view/9361">enjoy</a> the part-time nature of their academic work.</p>
<p>Part-timers make up 80% of teachers at <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=NeJ3CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=part+time+academics+latin+america&source=bl&ots=04Djc4QcuK&sig=-uEaAcXCGIcHYyiqmetvuFOdMxo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwieiqf836zPAhWZOsAKHYMaCIoQ6AEIKTAD#v=onepage&q=part%20time%20academics%20latin%20america&f=false">Latin American</a> universities. Brazil is the only exception to the rule in this region. </p>
<p>In Kenya <a href="http://www.magazinereel.com/study-students-suffer-as-50-of-lecturers-take-up-part-time-jobs/">around 50%</a> of country’s public university lecturers are engaged in part-time teaching.</p>
<p>Kenya wants to reverse this, and buck the global trend. The cabinet secretary for education recently announced that part-time lecturers would be <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Part-time-lecturers-on-way-out-in-bid-to-boost-quality/1056-3369716-40ex7c/index.html">phased out</a> at the country’s universities by 2018.</p>
<p>This is part of an attempt by Kenyan authorities to improve <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenyas-universities-are-in-the-grip-of-a-quality-crisis-54664">the quality</a> of university education. But the government, and universities, must be careful not to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Some adjunct academics bring vast experience from the working world beyond universities’ ivory towers. Their skills must not be lost.</p>
<h2>Saving money, compromising quality</h2>
<p>Money is tight for higher education in Kenya, as it is elsewhere in Africa. Universities save money by hiring part-time academics. These workers don’t <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/DN2/Part-time-lecturers-cry-foul-over-pay/957860-1722782-505soxz/index.html">qualify for benefits</a> and are not paid full salaries. Many juggle several jobs to make ends meet. Typically, a part-time lecturer at a public university earns an average of US $360 a month. The <a href="http://www.fixusjobs.com/salaries-of-part-time-lecturers-in-kenya/">average salary</a> for the most junior full-time faculty members is US $1,300 a month.</p>
<p>The status quo is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/jul/29/kenyas-shuttling-lecturers-university-shortages-are-taking-toll">taking its toll</a>. Some part-time academics have <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/m/?articleID=2000192199&story_title=i-taught-at-university-and-supervised-lecturers-says-form-four-leaver">questionable qualifications</a>. Many are spread so thinly between institutions that they cannot possibly teach well. These academics bounce between private and public institutions, moving back and forth day after day to teach in different places.</p>
<p>The emergence of part-time university lecturers in Kenya can be traced to the early 1990s. This is when private universities were <a href="http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/5/4/2158244015612519">first authorised</a> to operate. The government agreed that, to cushion these newcomers against financial problems, only 50% of their teaching staff needed to be <a href="http://www.cue.or.ke/images/phocadownload/UNIVERSITIES_STANDARDS_AND_GUIDELINES_June_2014.pdf">full-time employees</a>. Many of their temporary staff were drawn from public universities.</p>
<p>Then, in the late 1990s, public universities started to expand rapidly. More students were admitted, and the numbers rose from <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13596749800200030">around 21,846</a> two decades ago to more than 440,000 <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20160509141752529">currently</a>. Many public institutions opened branch campuses. These were often staffed by part-time academics.</p>
<p>This led to the current situation in which <a href="http://www.magazinereel.com/study-students-suffer-as-50-of-lecturers-take-up-part-time-jobs/">around half </a> of Kenya’s public university lecturers are engaged in part-time teaching.</p>
<p>One of the other problems is that part-time lecturers tend only to be teachers. They don’t get involved in other university work like research, committee meetings and advising postgraduate students. They are also not loyal to one institution; they know <a href="http://www.primejournal.org/PJSS/pdf/2014/feb/Kyule%20et%20al.pdf">little or nothing</a> about an individual university’s missions, policies, procedures and programmes.</p>
<p>Of course, not all part-time lecturers are poor teachers. Research <a href="http://www.idpublications.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Full-Paper-TEACHING-EXPERIENCE-OF-PART-TIME-LECTURERS-AFFECT-THE-QUALITY-OF-UNIVERSITY-EDUCATION.pdf">has found</a> that those with prior full-time teaching experience have much to offer universities. This group tends not to be taking on many piecemeal part-time appointments, and so are not thinly spread or rushing from campus to campus. </p>
<h2>Potential solutions</h2>
<p>The government’s move to phase out part-time lecturers was announced early in September 2016. By 2018, the Commission for University Education wants all lecturers to hold PhDs – a move that would lock out many part-timers, who hold lower degrees. </p>
<p>Some universities have already taken decisive action to deal with criticisms about their dependence on part-time lecturers. Mount Kenya University, a private institution, recently <a href="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Mt-Kenya-University-sends-home-2-900-part-time-lecturers/539546-3069560-e45e1vz/index.html">fired</a> 2,900 part-time lecturers and replaced them with 100 full-time lecturers, all of whom have PhDs.</p>
<p>A few public universities have decided to <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201607120080.html">close down</a> their branch campuses rather than bringing in more part-timers to bulk up teaching staff at these sites. </p>
<p>However Kenya’s universities choose to respond to the government’s decree, they must be careful not to shut part-time academics out entirely. Universities are often criticised for producing graduates who have no practical understanding or experience. To avoid doing this, they must hire experienced experts in professional and technical disciplines – architecture, engineering, law and medicine – as adjunct lecturers-of-practice who will bring real world work experiences into the classroom. </p>
<p>Kenya’s higher education sector shouldn’t be built entirely on the backs of part-time lecturers. But those adjunct academics who are qualified and competent must not be totally disregarded if universities are to boost their quality and cater for a growing student population.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65977/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ishmael Munene does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kenya has moved to phase out part-time lecturers in a bid to improve the quality of university education.Ishmael Munene, Associate Professor of Research, Foundations & Higher Education, Northern Arizona UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/621562016-08-26T17:53:15Z2016-08-26T17:53:15ZHow men benefit from family-friendly tenure policies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135652/original/image-20160826-17859-11bqrr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why aren't there as many female tenured professors?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/smcgee/523157391/in/photolist-Nejt2-axZjn6-4P1QBZ-6n2QgX-mseiq-esCrt-cP7yiC-6n2HAa-dP7hgm-axZjpD-4QEgRd-cP7wvb-6ntVGX-6nuknv-dmafDR-8xaYJe-8bLAbB-6n6Teo-ayV3Z1-ciiuNJ-eUi5ec-83qnSh-nZNhPS-K59s5-eLgSs-fbwv49-7GR112-eqVTd4-K5iwP-ayV4ib-a7b8p6-4MRJ2Q-8D8FFY-4bKspL-8bLyug-9zUJLj-qEqPQY-eUuo4U-7GUVy9-bU8EZ6-eiXUYS-nosFYK-a7b9Gz-9FFqC4-a7e2pm-nosH4j-8xaXQg-eiifB8-a7b9c6-5dLLkn">Sarah</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Friday, August 26, as we celebrate Women’s Equality Day – a day marking the 96th anniversary of the 19th Amendment that guaranteed women the right to vote – it is a time to reflect both on the progress that has been made on gender equality and on how much work still remains. </p>
<p>As academics, we are well aware that gender gaps continue to exist on American campuses. It is true that <a href="https://www.aaup.org/NR/rdonlyres/08E023AB-E6D8-4DBD-99A0-24E5EB73A760/0/persistent_inequity.pdf">female students now outnumber</a> male students, and also that more women <a href="https://www.aaup.org/NR/rdonlyres/08E023AB-E6D8-4DBD-99A0-24E5EB73A760/0/persistent_inequity.pdf">earn professional degrees</a> compared to men. But it is also true that <a href="https://www.aaup.org/NR/rdonlyres/08E023AB-E6D8-4DBD-99A0-24E5EB73A760/0/persistent_inequity.pdf">only 28 percent of tenured faculty are women</a>. </p>
<p>Tenure represents a permanent job contract. It usually takes about six or seven years of being on tenure track – a probationary period during which a junior professor’s publication record, teaching ability and departmental service are monitored and assessed – to get <a href="https://www.aaup.org/report/recommended-institutional-regulations-academic-freedom-and-tenure">tenure</a>. </p>
<p>In recent years, many research universities have adopted more “family-friendly” tenure rules aimed at helping women balance family and career. Our research shows that despite such policies, gender equality remains elusive in academia when it comes to tenure consideration. Rather, some of these policies are helping men, not women.</p>
<h2>Gender-neutral tenure policies</h2>
<p>For most people, the tenure process occurs during their late 20’s and early 30’s. These years typically align with women’s prime child-bearing years. This can <a href="http://ucfamilyedge.berkeley.edu/ucfamilyedge.pdf">hinder</a> women’s research productivity and thus reduce their chances of earning tenure. </p>
<p><a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/goldin/publications/cost-workplace-flexibility-high-powered-professionals">More generally</a>, having children could reduce the probability of being promoted in a variety of professions. Women’s early career productivity could fall due to the time time spent in child bearing and child care. </p>
<p>However, the problem might be particularly acute at research universities where research productivity during the few years before the tenure decision is especially important.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135653/original/image-20160826-17862-1gao9db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135653/original/image-20160826-17862-1gao9db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135653/original/image-20160826-17862-1gao9db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135653/original/image-20160826-17862-1gao9db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135653/original/image-20160826-17862-1gao9db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135653/original/image-20160826-17862-1gao9db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135653/original/image-20160826-17862-1gao9db.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women’s productivity in early years of their careers could fall when they have children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/knightfoundation/6241499925/in/photolist-avxjtF-cABY5J-qruMtV-nMsoCh-nBLskv-HWjDm-cAzCKG-nA1EAw-nkFG8s-7jG1M7-bBuoLx-BtcWbK-cA32XW-oBWZUD-nPpfnp-99EA86-nKzhBS-nv8dyE-nv841T-nKzicu-fkD9vs-51YeRy-5DC5Pt-3ZBn7X-3fLcuZ-bdZ2Gp-8UNGnx-EdBVLh-cABXT3-eXLhdT-dkoCCh-cY4Aru-Fb3bBZ-9ogNcc-9kACiB-fV7DoF-eXLhat-cATuZY-4EKhRe-cWmST5-9wvBEi-gEVDf-aHnhzX-mShaQo-rbYLwF-oVN7Nk-nA1Gn7-nDQxfx-deqRyd-8RTgmx">John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Follow</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In response, during the 1990s and 2000s many research institutions adopted “gender-neutral tenure clock-stopping <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0ahUKEwiEteCTqN3OAhUWS2MKHX-ND4sQFggmMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fftp.iza.org%2Fdp9904.pdf&usg=AFQjCNE9JoLz78IGge9gm_Db789HrYGwTg&cad=rja">policies</a>.” These policies were intended to make it easier for women who have children to earn tenure.</p>
<p>The policies are gender-neutral: That is, they allow parents of either gender to avail their benefits. They allow new parents to extend their terms as assistant professors. They stop the tenure clock for one year for each new child, up to a maximum of two. </p>
<p>In other words, new parents get more time before they have to go up for tenure. These policies are independent of leave-taking, meaning that assistant professors can continue to work while gaining the extra time on their tenure clocks. </p>
<p>The idea is to allow new parents to make up for lost research time. And also, so women and men should not need to sacrifice family for career, and vice versa.</p>
<h2>Are these policies equitable?</h2>
<p>We recently conducted a study, “<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0ahUKEwiEteCTqN3OAhUWS2MKHX-ND4sQFggmMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fftp.iza.org%2Fdp9904.pdf&usg=AFQjCNE9JoLz78IGge9gm_Db789HrYGwTg&cad=rja">Equal but Inequitable: Who Benefits from Gender-Neutral Tenure Clock Stopping Policies</a>,” on these tenure clock-stopping policies.</p>
<p>Our study focuses on economics professors – a very male-dominated field. A <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=702">2014 survey</a> by the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) shows that in economics, women constitute 30 percent of assistant professors, 23 percent of tenured associate professors and only 12 percent of full professors. </p>
<p>Gender-neutral policies are believed to <a href="http://ucfamilyedge.berkeley.edu/ucfamilyedge.pdf">reduce stigma</a> about use by encouraging male participation, at least with regard to economics faculty. We believe one of the primary reasons universities have adopted gender-neutral policies is that there was low take-up under policies that only applied to women. </p>
<p>However, we found no evidence that they have helped women earn tenure.</p>
<p>In fact, we found the policy – designed to help women get tenure – instead raised male tenure rates, at least in top economics departments.</p>
<p>The probability of a man getting tenure in his first job increased by 19 percentage points after such a policy was adopted. By contrast, the probability of a female academic getting tenure fell by 22 percentage points. </p>
<p>We believe male publication rates rise with the extra time, but female publication rates do not.</p>
<p>So, these gender-neutral policies are equal in the sense that they give the same benefit to women and men who have children. But they are inequitable in that the time cost (or productivity loss) experienced by men and women is quite different. </p>
<p>For example, it is women who become pregnant, experience morning sickness, give birth and breastfeed. As such, we believe, giving an equal extension without an equal productivity loss might better be described as unequal. And it is certainly less than clear that it will level the playing field in terms of tenure rates.</p>
<h2>Why there is a need to rethink</h2>
<p>Although our results represent a single discipline, they certainly raise concerns that this could be a problem across a broad range of fields. Female tenure rates are lower across almost all academic <a href="https://www.aaup.org/NR/rdonlyres/63396944-44BE-4ABA-9815-5792D93856F1/0/AAUPGenderEquityIndicators2006.pdf">disciplines</a>. In science disciplines, men who have children before tenure are 24 percentage points more likely to earn tenure compared to women with children. And in the humanities and social sciences, men with children are 20 percentage points more likely to earn tenure. </p>
<p>Our results suggest we might want to rethink these policies. One of the arguments in favor of “gender-neutral clock-stopping” policies stems from women having been discouraged – by their male colleagues – from taking advantage of policies that apply to mothers only.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135655/original/image-20160826-17851-m7ghs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135655/original/image-20160826-17851-m7ghs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135655/original/image-20160826-17851-m7ghs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135655/original/image-20160826-17851-m7ghs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135655/original/image-20160826-17851-m7ghs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135655/original/image-20160826-17851-m7ghs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135655/original/image-20160826-17851-m7ghs8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Why extending the same benefits to men and women is not equitable.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pennstatelive/4951115696/in/photolist-8xvLcJ-aWN3aZ-cbJFtQ-dA8x4Q-8xcvWU-oKZPoz-8xaYJe-9J9QEE-8x6Q8w-8xcw7Q-82tgXJ-8xcw4q-qJYS1C-8xzYy8-9TnBXc-8xvLqb-8x6Ftb-nosFYK-8xpnYW-8xcSjn-nosH4j-gZmMB-8xvP1b-taicRH-8x6Kyh-4Tdy2J-8xvPPq-8xvLHQ-qsu5Ym-6pFWBa-sB5Hk4-bU8CDP-9FYmZK-not3Ex-8xsFVv-7EsE7K-8xaXQg-8xsMJF-8xsCdx-esCrt-nyobHw-btmnkf-8x7aBH-4TdxUh-4T9jYP-8xsM8K-8xsJDP-4T9kDg-8xe15Y-4T9krr">Penn State</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our research findings, based in the discipline of economics, do raise the question whether extending equal benefits to men and women is equitable in practice. We also don’t know if these policies had a similar effect in other disciplines with different publication requirements. </p>
<p>While it is easy to instruct the people making tenure decisions to ignore the additional time on the tenure clock, it is not as easy to know how it actually affects their thinking about the tenure case and hence their evaluation. </p>
<h2>Need family-friendly policies</h2>
<p>In theory, gender-neutral policies that attempt to level the playing field by adjusting measures of productivity to account for early child-rearing sound promising. However, as our research shows, such policies could have unintended consequences that actually hurt women.</p>
<p>We believe university administrators need to reopen the discussion on tenure policies, and the extent to which these benefits are extended to men and women. </p>
<p>But universities are not the only places where family-friendly policies may have unintended consequences. Lawyers, financial professionals and doctors are also likely to be promoted based on early measures of success. <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0ahUKEwiEteCTqN3OAhUWS2MKHX-ND4sQFggmMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fftp.iza.org%2Fdp9904.pdf&usg=AFQjCNE9JoLz78IGge9gm_Db789HrYGwTg&cad=rja">Evidence shows</a> family gaps in each of these professions, especially among top earners. </p>
<p>As we celebrate Women’s Equality Day, let us emphasize the need for more family-friendly policies to create a more level playing field for high-skill professionals who face rigid and important promotion decisions early in their careers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62156/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many research universities have adopted ‘family-friendly’ tenure rules to help women balance family and career. However, men, not women, seem to benefit from having the extra time.Kelly Bedard, Professor of Economics, University of California, Santa BarbaraHeather Antecol, Boswell Professor of Economics, Claremont McKenna CollegeJenna Stearns, Ph.D. Student, University of California, Santa BarbaraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/599592016-06-29T01:06:53Z2016-06-29T01:06:53ZIs it time to eliminate tenure for professors?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128401/original/image-20160627-28362-mh9bsu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is tenure outdated?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/merrimack/8782450939/in/photolist-eo5mFV-eoE6Ls-eoZXxa-eo5m2M-eoZWex-eoE6WS-epWaVC-epWasG-epWbCW-eoE6UJ-eo5mKc-a1JSoT-eoE8d7-8UeCdm-eo5kUF-eoE6CY-eoE6rY-epWbvW-eoE6nd-eoE6no-eo5k62-eoZXmP-epWbgA-eo5mHD-eoE6Fb-eoE6w7-eo5mor-eoZWUv-eoawkP-epWbD7-eoE6MU-eo5k4V-eoE6Rs-eoZXtk-eoZXf8-eoE6tb-epWbXu-eoKgX9-eo5mBx-epWc71-epWbYd-epWc6h-eoZWXF-epWbAG-eo5mGT-eoE6wU-epWbnb-eoZXJX-epWbSu-eoZXoH">Merrimack College</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The State College of Florida <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/24/state-college-florida-eliminates-continuous-contracts-puts-all-faculty-members-one">recently scrapped tenure</a> for incoming faculty. New professors at this public university will be hired on the basis of annual contracts that the school can decline to renew at any time.</p>
<p>The decision has been highly controversial. But this is not the first time tenure has come under attack. In 2015, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-else-will-we-lose-when-wisconsin-faculty-loses-tenure-42929">called for a reevaluation of state laws</a> on tenure and shared governance. As of March 2016, a new policy at the University of Wisconsin <a href="http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/university/regents-approve-new-policies-for-uw-tenure-over-professors-objections/article_e0aa29b5-438b-5182-8870-5cd76fb80144.html">has made faculty vulnerable to lay offs. </a></p>
<p>The tenure system <a href="https://www.aaup.org/report/1940-statement-principles-academic-freedom-and-tenure">provides lifetime guarantees</a> of employment for faculty members. The purpose is to protect academic freedom – a fundamental value in higher education that allows scholars to explore controversial topics in their research and teaching without fear of being fired. </p>
<p>It also ensures that faculty can voice their opinions with university administration and ensure that academic values are protected, particularly from the increasingly <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/academic-capitalism-and-new-economy">corporate ideals invading higher education institutions.</a></p>
<p>Our research on the changing profile of university faculty shows that while the university enterprise has transformed dramatically in the last hundred years, the tenure employment model remains largely unchanged. So, has the tenure model become outdated? And if so, is it time to eliminate it altogether?</p>
<h2>Growth of adjunct faculty</h2>
<p>The demographic of higher education faculty has changed a lot in recent years. To start with, there are <a href="http://www.uscrossier.org/pullias/research/projects/delphi/">very few tenured faculty members</a> left within higher education. </p>
<p>Tenure-track refers to that class of professors who are hired specifically to pursue tenure, based largely on their potential for producing research. Only 30 percent of faculty are now on the tenure-track, while 70 percent of faculty are <a href="https://www.aaup.org/report/contingent-appointments-and-academic-profession">“contingent”</a>. Contingent faculty are often referred to as “adjuncts” or “non-tenure track faculty.” They are usually hired with the understanding that tenure is not in their future at that particular university, and they teach either part-time or full-time on a semester-to-semester or yearly basis. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128525/original/image-20160628-7840-14z3nm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are fewer tenured faculty in the higher education system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/queensucanada/10088223925/in/photolist-gnsMvg-gntarD-ayha1Q-fhkLKb-mfmDv2-ptQ96-5zqnrm-mfmFk4-8tjn4j-bvqVw3-nBfP4i-9eb3iA-njLSMC-bJkEU8-dBZUWD-a6ncMu-8y32yB-fhg82y-6TpM8i-8Hpynr-q5PjAp-kFXkQZ-egkvkz-kFVUSr-r48VyF-kFUNBR-6feAz2-cjtoSE-nsgQhu-gntaWg-ajJeYQ-fgBjaD-kbKRQP-7Cs5gQ-6fiMoo-mfmFUR-mZJX9M-6XtWzW-dyyyYU-fvrqUB-dx5GKi-kFWyyh-jKSgJP-cjt6MU-mZJKp2-mxHweV-cjt43h-cjtqpd-dx5F7e-eepnwh">St. Ambrose University</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most contingent faculty have short-term contracts which may or may not be renewed at the end of the contract term. As of 2010, <a href="http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/aa_partimefaculty0310.pdf">52 percent of contingent faculty</a> had semester-to-semester part-time appointments and 18 percent had full-time yearly appointments. </p>
<p>Researchers suggest that the <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/teaching-without-tenure">increase in contingent appointments</a> is a <a href="http://crw.sagepub.com/content/36/1/5.abstract">result of the tenure model’s failure to adapt</a> with the significant and rapid changes that have occurred in colleges and universities over the last 50 years. </p>
<p>The most significant of these changes is the rise of teaching-focused institutions, the largest growth being in the community college, technical college and urban institutions that have a primary mission to educate students with little or no research mission. Between 1952 and 1972 the number of community colleges in the United States nearly <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED389384.pdf">doubled</a>, from 594 to 1141, to accommodate a large increase in student enrollments, leaving four-year institutions to focus on research and development.</p>
<h2>Campuses changed, not tenure system</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.tiaainstitute.org/public/pdf/changing-faculty-workforce-models.pdf">Most commentators</a> have described the growth of contingent faculty as a response to financial pressures in the 1990s. </p>
<p>But our research shows that this growth actually began in the 1970s when <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ810310">market fluctuations</a> caused unexpected growths in college enrollment. Between 1945 and 1975, college enrollment increased in the United States by 500 percent. However, rising costs and a recession in the late 1970’s forced administrators to seek out part-time faculty to work for lower wages in order to accommodate these students. The practice increased dramatically thereafter. </p>
<p>In addition to enrollment changes, government funding for higher education <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/teaching-without-tenure">decreased</a> in the late 1980s and ‘90s. The demand for new courses and programs was uncertain, and so campuses needed more <a href="http://www.tiaacref.org/ucm/groups/content/@ap_ucm_p_tcp_docs/documents/webcontent/tiaa02029947.pdf">flexibility</a> in faculty hiring. </p>
<p>Further, over the last 20 years new technologies have created new learning environments and opportunities to teach online. </p>
<p>Tenure-track faculty incentivized to conduct research were typically not interested in investing time to learn about <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ746693">new teaching technologies</a>. Consequently, a strong demand for online teaching pushed institutions into hiring contingent faculty to fill these roles. </p>
<p>As a result, what we have today is a <a href="https://www.tiaainstitute.org/public/pdf/changing-faculty-workforce-models.pdf">disparity</a> between the existing incentive structures that reward research-oriented, tenure-track faculty and the increased demand for good teaching. </p>
<h2>Why the contingent faculty model hurts</h2>
<p>Critics of tenure argue that the tenure model, with its <a href="http://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/about/news/2013/figlio-schapiro-tenure.html">research-based incentives</a>, does little to improve student outcomes. But the same can be said of the new teaching model that relies so heavily on contingent faculty – it is not necessarily designed to support student learning. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tiaainstitute.org/public/pdf/changing-faculty-workforce-models.pdf">Research</a> on contingent faculty employment models illustrates that they are poorly designed and lack many of the support systems needed to foster positive faculty performance.</p>
<p>For example, unlike tenure-track faculty, contingent faculty have little or no involvement in curriculum planning or university governance, little or no access to professional development, mentoring, orientations, evaluation, campus resources or administrative support; and they are often unaware of institutional goals and outcomes. </p>
<p>Furthermore, students have limited access to or interaction with these faculty members, which research suggests is one of the most <a href="http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118002660.html">significant factors</a> impacting student outcomes such as learning, retention and graduation.</p>
<p><a href="http://abs.sagepub.com/content/55/11/1485.short">Studies</a> have shown that student-faculty interaction provides students with access to resources, mentoring and encouragement, and allows them to better engage with subject material.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/128527/original/image-20160628-7815-2melqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Studies show lower graduation rates as a result of the faculty workforce model.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sakeeb/4647211575/in/photolist-85Eb6v-9Hm4GQ-jHNzvP-jHQFGW-4ShTvQ-qvVyex-cmufUE-cmtSrQ-cmtR8o-fbdVsP-Rd8H8-4Rq9qA-CR4PQ-ePSA8R-cmtMxU-ePSAjr-9JoeC6-2K6HUd-9dfH2D-6oSuFo-cfi8rA-9JoezX-egnTku-4HNZBr-rCWcoo-rCW9CU-fbdVxP-9H5zai-eAgvxd-roDhTm-qJdXQd-cfqro5-qJrfTM-TEV9t-roEo8Q-rCWbQ9-rFdP3e-KNdgr-yyA6-roLM2H-9H8qM3-egh93M-82pwxj-egnR9d-egh5Gg-9Ha8Yj-9H8quN-Rd8CB-6oS96o-roEqBN">Sakeeb Sabakka</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recent research on contingent faculty has also identified some <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ825258">consistent and disturbing trends</a> related to student outcomes that illustrate problems related to new faculty workforce models. These include poor performance and lower graduation rates for students who take more courses with contingent faculty, and lower transfer rates from two-year to four-year institutions.</p>
<p>Using transcripts, faculty employment and institutional data from California’s 107 community colleges, researchers <a href="https://ced.ncsu.edu/people/ajjaeger/">Audrey Jaeger</a> and <a href="https://gseis.ucla.edu/directory/kevin-eagan/">Kevin Eagan</a> found that for every 10 percent increase in students’ exposure to part-time faculty instruction, <a href="http://crw.sagepub.com/content/36/3/167.abstract">they became 2 percent less likely</a> to transfer from two-year to four-year institutions, and 1 percent less likely to graduate. </p>
<p>Additionally, studies of contingent faculties’ instructional practices suggest that they tend to use <a href="http://abs.sagepub.com/content/55/11/1485.short">fewer active learning, student-centered teaching approaches</a>. They are also less engaged with new and culturally-sensitive teaching approaches (strategies encouraging acknowledgment of student differences in a way that promotes equity and respect).</p>
<p>Consequently today, when the pool of Ph.D. students is growing, the number of <a href="http://icorsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Too-many-phds-Nature-2015.pdf">tenure-track positions</a> available for graduates is shrinking. As a result, a disconnect has evolved between the types and number of Ph.D.s on the job market in search of tenure, and the needs of, and jobs available within, colleges and universities. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/its-a-mess-graduate-schools-are-failing-to-prepare-students-for-jobs-43565">Some estimates</a> show that recent graduates have less than a 50 percent chance of obtaining a tenure-track position. Furthermore, it is graduates from the top-ranked quarter of graduate schools who <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/1/e1400005">make up more than three quarters of tenure-track faculty</a> in the United States and Canada, specifically in the fields of computer science, business and history.</p>
<h2>A new tenure system?</h2>
<p>We appear to be at a crossroads. The higher education enterprise has changed, but the traditional tenure model has stayed the same. The truth is that universities need faculty who are dedicated to teaching, but the most persuasive argument in support of tenure – its role in <a href="http://www.aaup.org/report/tenure-and-teaching-intensive-appointments">protecting academic freedom</a>– has come to be too narrowly associated with research.</p>
<p>Academic freedom was always meant to extend to the classroom – to allow faculty to teach freely, in line with the search for truth, no matter how controversial the subject matter. Eliminating tenure completely will do little to protect academic values or improve student performance.</p>
<p>Instead, the most promising proposal that has emerged many times over the last 30 years is to <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137506108">rethink the traditional tenure system</a> in a way that would incentivize excellent teaching, and create teaching-intensive tenure-track positions.</p>
<p>Under an incentive system, when considering whether to grant tenure, committees can take into account excellence in teaching, by way of student evaluations, peer review, or teaching awards. For faculty on a teaching-intensive track, tenure decisions would be made based primarily on their teaching, with little or no weight given to research.</p>
<p>Though not every contingent faculty member would be eligible for such positions, these alternative models can change the incentive structures inherent in the academic profession. They may be able to remove the negative stigmas surrounding teaching in the academy and may eliminate the class-based distinctions between research and teaching faculty that have resulted from the traditional tenure model.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59959/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrianna Kezar received funding from Teagle, Spencer and Carnegie foundations for Delphi Project on Changing Faculty and student success. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Bernstein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With 70 percent adjunct faculty, who work on a semester-to-semester basis, the current system is not helping students. What can replace the traditional tenure system?Samantha Bernstein, PhD Student, University of Southern CaliforniaAdrianna Kezar, Professor of Higher Edcuation, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/431672015-06-25T10:36:55Z2015-06-25T10:36:55ZWisconsin controversy: with fewer tenured positions, who benefits from academic freedom?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86305/original/image-20150624-31495-azycse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In a changing environment, how do universities ensure academic freedom for all?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/egcpr/8370329171/in/photolist-dKE8fc-5cXkaL-atHNcX-crzFpL-nntR9k-fbyHBZ-aYLAW6-ccmyzw-c1PUnY-ciiFdd-9K9UcL-7ZsTGG-cA1vF1-bYCapY-5jwMRP-bAoNAA-84VWcG-eTeNWq-dBRCFd-dBQMZu-dKE8jn-nQaWGb-o7Eroc-nQbRY8-o7xtfw-o7n62R-o7zcXw-o7nhax-nQbg2X-aYLEon-8UWrsR-8UX7ua-faZ62q-83iibT-o7UhXf-31hb8u-ara9dG-aYLuEH-aYLwbx-aYLsNT-7ZpGAF-thfvB6-2cTUBx-o3cYz8-85Zfj4-93Vmdd-crzKcf-fciTR5-6mGrrp-eggC1B">East Georgia State College</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sitting here in Madison, Wisconsin, a chancellor of <a href="http://www.uwex.uwc.edu/chancellor/">two UW institutions</a>, I find myself at the vortex of an enormous national conversation about tenure and shared governance. </p>
<p>After decades of being enshrined in <a href="http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/36/13">Wisconsin state law</a> and often seen as the national gold standard for tenure protection, tenure policy in Wisconsin will now instead be covered by a <a href="http://budget.wisc.edu/content/uploads/2015/05/UW_omnibus_motion.pdf">policy</a> (item #12) approved by the <a href="https://www.wisconsin.edu/regents/">UW Board of Regents</a> (18 individuals, mostly appointed by the governor who oversees the UW system). </p>
<p>Essentially, when the budget is signed, tenure at UW will move from law to policy, a move some perceive as a weakening of tenure in Wisconsin. Three months ago, anticipating legislative action, the Board of Regents passed a resolution <a href="https://www.wisconsin.edu/news/download/news_documents/2015/SharedGovernanceandTenureContinuationResolution-Adopted3-5-2015.pdf">confirming</a> its commitment to tenure. </p>
<p>Despite this action, many here still see this change in law as an erosion of tenure. This perception is reinforced by a new state law that could also include <a href="http://wispolitics.com/1006/150529UWOmnibusMotion.pdf">much broader provisions</a> (item #39) for layoff of tenured faculty beyond extreme financial emergency. </p>
<p>For many, the tenure conversation zeros in on the “employment protection” component of tenure, when another component – academic freedom - should, I would argue, be more important to us. </p>
<h2>Protecting new ideas</h2>
<p>Academic freedom allows faculty to teach, research and publish free of political, commercial and other influences. As the <a href="http://www.aaup.org/file/1940%20Statement.pdf">American Association of University Professors (AAUP)</a> says: “the common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition” and has been with us since 1915. </p>
<p>Though the purpose of tenure is academic freedom, employment protection comes into play because academic freedom exists only if faculty can perform their teaching, research, and shared governance duties free of threats of dismissal.</p>
<p>As we know, new developments, new thinking and new knowledge are often uncomfortable, unpopular and controversial. </p>
<p>Today, think of <a href="http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/stemcells/scissues/">stem cell research</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/global_warming_controversy.htm">climate change</a> or the <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050222">competing interpretations of urban poor</a>, to name a few. Theater productions and artwork created by faculty could also challenge prevailing views. </p>
<p>Academic freedom provides protection to these ideas. It is a pillar of US higher education, one that separates us from <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/23/report-calls-attention-crisis-attacks-higher-education-worldwide">many other</a> higher educational systems around the world. </p>
<p>However, as American higher education continues to adapt and respond to the demands and desires of today’s students, how do we continue to live the value of academic freedom in this new environment?</p>
<h2>Growth of contingent ranks</h2>
<p>Let’s look at the changes in the academic workforce.</p>
<p>Over the last four decades, the composition of faculty in the US <a href="http://agb.org/trusteeship/2013/5/changing-academic-workforce">has flipped</a>. From primarily full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty (78.3% in 1969), higher education institutions have moved to mostly adjunct or “contingent” faculty – those without tenure, who work on limited term agreements (66.5% in 2009). </p>
<p>The main reason for this shift is economic. </p>
<p>Salaries and benefits constitute 80% of expenses within colleges and universities. And as institutions become increasingly tuition-dependent and face pressure from students, families and elected officials to focus on affordability and student debt, managing expenses becomes key. </p>
<p>Contingent faculty are paid at a lower rate and receive few or no benefits, providing a high level of flexibility to administrators as they confront the ebb and flow of student enrollments and course demands. Contingent faculty are more likely to teach lower-level courses that tenured faculty do not care to teach (eg, basic writing and math).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86307/original/image-20150624-31498-lh8ftd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86307/original/image-20150624-31498-lh8ftd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86307/original/image-20150624-31498-lh8ftd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86307/original/image-20150624-31498-lh8ftd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86307/original/image-20150624-31498-lh8ftd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86307/original/image-20150624-31498-lh8ftd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/86307/original/image-20150624-31498-lh8ftd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The percentage of tenured faculty on campuses is reducing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jirka_matousek/8439515052/in/photolist-dRLHNd-dR5U2j-fCjnU6-dUkJPn-dQZdBa-dRFqv8-dRFo8R-dUsq2w-dRKdU1-dRDGot-8H3oeg-dUmTER-dUkCYM-dUsrCU-dUmq72-8ND3sF-8ND3vx-iiUd8i-iiTUbs-dUsikf-9VDoSf-dR4kbG-8H6wDG-dUmwZp-dQZnke-dQWAqX-dUssDo-dUmDWD-dUqX47-dQWsnH-dRMdk7-dRLFqd-dRPrs2-fuP9Ha-8H3ogM-iiTUuy-dUsudW-dQV9Cg-eFpBvf-d7wUvy-d2uGrS-fCLhpR-dRPpZ8-d7xaKb-7UygUQ-adnmpT-a3SE4j-8dfYZC-4msxSN-ag8JMc">Jirka Matousek</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The growth of for-profit institutions as well as the growth of <a href="http://rpb.ucr.edu/fprm/graduate.html">self-supporting degree programs</a> that cover their own cost within public institutions has also contributed to this trend.</p>
<p>Rather than being seen as highly educated, independent professionals, contingent faculty operate on a spectrum of independence. The most extreme end of the spectrum considers them performers of a curriculum developed by other experts. </p>
<h2>Evolving faculty roles</h2>
<p>In addition, we’re also hearing a lot these days about the disaggregation of the faculty role. </p>
<p>This means breaking down the teaching portion of faculty work into smaller and discrete activities, like developing course outlines, defining specific outcomes students should master, identifying readings and course materials, creating exercises and exams, lecturing, mentoring students, and evaluating student performance. </p>
<p>Part of what’s influencing this shift is the growth of online programs with technology platforms that allow us to gather more and more data about student learning behaviors and student learning outcomes.</p>
<p>Now we can isolate the different components involved in teaching and can change specific activities and techniques in ways that improve student learning. </p>
<p>Some institutions have addressed this head-on, <a href="http://www.onlineschools.com/blog/online-school-spotlight-western-governors-university">breaking down faculty roles</a> into smaller parts and hiring different kinds of individuals to carry out different teaching functions. These individuals typically are not tenured or tenure-track faculty and therefore have little or no assurance of academic freedom.</p>
<p>This shift in teaching roles and increasing reliance on non-faculty academics has occurred under the radar. Today we have a tiered structure of faculty, with some carrying out different functions and rewarded with different employment protections and different levels of academic freedom. </p>
<h2>Academic freedom going forward</h2>
<p>As we continue to evolve, how do we ensure that academic freedom remains alive and well for all faculty, regardless of whether they are headed for tenure or performing the traditional role of faculty inside and outside of the classroom?</p>
<p>The fact is that US higher education is being compelled by internal and external forces to change. We need to recognize we have many different categories of faculty now, not all of whom may pursue or receive tenure. </p>
<p>At Wisconsin, we believe that academic freedom is such a core tenet of what we do that these protections are extended to all faculty, whether they are eligible for tenure or teaching one class a year on a contingent basis. </p>
<p>This protection is reflected in the UW Madison <a href="http://acstaff.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/ASPP-Chapter-15.pdf">policy</a> for academic staff (academic staff is our name for part-time or non-tenured instructors).</p>
<p>While it’s common for colleges and universities to reinforce academic freedom for tenured and tenure-track faculty, it is less common to see policy protection for other categories of faculty. I’m glad Wisconsin institutions extend their academic freedom protection more widely across teaching staff, and I hope we’re applying that policy effectively.</p>
<p>In the dynamic and rapidly changing big-picture world of post-secondary education, the whole subject of tenure and academic freedom is more complex and nuanced than we may realize at first glance. </p>
<h2>Let’s be honest here</h2>
<p>Do I believe we need tenure as historically defined? Absolutely, yes. We would not have a higher education system that still is the envy of the world without it. </p>
<p>Faculty are the heart and soul of an institution. They make a lifetime commitment to an institution, while students and administrators come and go. For those who are more economically motivated, big donors to colleges and universities often mention favorite faculty as motivation for making their large gifts. There is no doubt tenure retains faculty and contributes to these benefits.</p>
<p>With so many of our teachers and instructors ineligible for tenure, is there more we need to do to provide some level of employment security – and, more importantly, to define and extend academic freedom beyond the tenured ranks?</p>
<p>I am proud to be affiliated with a great university that has, for decades, committed itself to live by the values of academic freedom enshrined by these words on all our campuses: “Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great State University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth may be found.”</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s time for higher education to do its own “sifting and winnowing” by looking more closely at our tiered faculty structure, in which some faculty enjoy tenure and the majority do not. We need to be more deliberate and honest about how academic freedom applies to different teaching roles within this new environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43167/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cathy Sandeen works for University of Wisconsin Colleges and Extension.</span></em></p>With an increasing percentage of adjunct faculty, tenure and academic freedom are way more complex and nuanced than we realize.Cathy Sandeen, Chancellor, University of Wisconsin Colleges and the University of Wisconsin-ExtensionLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.