tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/tenure-track-18168/articlestenure-track – 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/1272982020-01-07T17:11:58Z2020-01-07T17:11:58ZHumanities PhD grads working in non-academic jobs could shake up university culture<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306411/original/file-20191211-95135-152iozh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C107%2C7928%2C4309&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Canadian universities need to reform the culture of the humanities so that careers outside the university are seen as just as valuable as tenure-track jobs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Annie Spratt/Unsplash)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>PhD graduates in the humanities need to cultivate more varied career paths. Canadian universities need to reform the culture of the humanities so that careers outside the university are seen to be just as valuable as permanent, tenure-track professorships. Changes like these will be good for the graduates, the universities and for Canadian society itself. </p>
<p>For the past five years, I’ve directed a series of PhD grad tracking projects called <a href="http://tracemcgill.com/">TRaCE (Track, Report, Connect, Exchange)</a>. The <a href="http://tracephd.com/">TRaCE pilot project (2015-16) and TRaCE 2.0 (2017-19)</a> recruited graduate student researchers from across Canada. We followed up on more than 4,000 PhD grads, mostly from the humanities, by finding them and their present jobs online. We produced statistical reports on where the grads were finding employment.</p>
<p>And we did something that, to our knowledge, other tracking projects don’t do. We reached out to the grads, interviewed 450 of them and posted their stories on the TRaCE website. One thing, however, aroused our concerns: we found it was mostly those in tenure-track jobs who wanted to talk to us. Why was it mostly these young professors who were keen to tell their stories?</p>
<h2>Don’t want to leave</h2>
<p>TRaCE 2.0 showed <a href="http://tracemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TRaCE-2.0-quant-report-june-20-2019.pdf">that 66 per cent of the 1,500 grads (about 990 grads) we tracked are employed in higher education</a>. That would be OK, except that most PhD grads who choose to stay have been transformed into something like indentured servants in <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/july-2019/the-phd-employment-crisis-is-systemic/">precarious jobs</a>. Approximately 450 grads are in tenure-track positions, and 540 grads — or more than one-third of the total grads we tracked — are mostly in adjunct teaching positions. </p>
<p>The large number of PhD grads willing to work as adjunct teachers means that universities can run their undergraduate programs with huge cost savings. In the U.S., <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/adjunct-professors-higher-education-thea-hunter/586168/">70 per cent or more of teaching faculty are adjuncts.</a></p>
<p>In Canada, <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/contractually-bound/contractually-bound-welcome-to-a-new-space-for-adjunct-faculty/">about 50 per cent of university teachers are adjunct instructors</a>. These instructors are paid a stipend of $4,000 to $7,000 per one-term course, without benefits. They aren’t permanent employees. Some of them need to teach at more than one institution to get by. And most of them, <a href="http://tracephd.com/trace-qualitative-summary-insight-from-our-interviews/">as we know from our research, don’t want to leave the university</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306634/original/file-20191212-85412-1uwkz36.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">
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<span class="caption">Humanities grads non in tenure-track careers were mostly unwilling to share their stories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Non-academic employment</h2>
<p>According to a Conference Board of Canada report, “<a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/temp/8a9e77c1-b59b-4403-aa0a-3d306ffe2fa7/7564_Inside%20and%20Outside%20the%20Academy_RPT.pdf">the often isolated nature of PhD studies and the stigma that some students feel in pursuing a non-academic career can make networking especially difficult</a>.” The report says PhD students may also be unsure of where to look for non-academic jobs and unsure about the most effective methods of pursuing those jobs.</p>
<p>Nichole Austin, the TRaCE pilot project quantitative analyst, determined that of the approximately 2,800 tracked grads, <a href="http://tracephd.com/trace-quantitative-summary-what-did-we-learn-and-where-do-we-go-from-here/">about 26 per cent (728 people) were in non-academic sectors</a>, with 167 of these being self-employed and the others having jobs in a range of non-academic sectors.</p>
<p>Are young researchers graduating from humanities PhD programs moving forward into rewarding careers outside the academy? Couldn’t PhD graduates bring their research and communication skills, as well as their historical knowledge and big-picture thinking, to many sectors of work in Canada and beyond? If not, what is preventing the realization of this happy and just state of affairs? </p>
<p>One reason could be that many employers in the non-academic world <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/temp/8a9e77c1-b59b-4403-aa0a-3d306ffe2fa7/7564_Inside%20and%20Outside%20the%20Academy_RPT.pdf">do not think that PhDs are the kind of people they want to hire.</a> Managers should certainly become more open-minded about the value of hiring humanities PhDs. But the one thing the managers need in order to begin to open their minds about the skillfulness, industry and initiative of humanities PhD grads is the opportunity to connect with more of them. </p>
<p>Beyond this reason, we don’t really know: We found that <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/tracking-humanities-phd-outcomes-trace-project/">the humanities grads not in tenure-track careers were mostly unwilling to share their stories.</a> </p>
<p>Given that a principal goal of TRaCE has been to banish the word “failure” as a descriptor of anyone who has successfully completed a PhD, we found it ironic that PhD grads with tenure-track jobs were happy to share their stories with us, but few other grads were willing to do so. </p>
<p>Could it be that they, those without tenure-track positions, felt like failures? I hope that is not the case, but if it is, the academy is partly to blame. The academy has to change in order to both expand the career mobility of humanities PhD grads and to enhance their sense of self-worth. No one who has completed a PhD is a failure. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C302%2C4982%2C3569&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/306409/original/file-20191211-95138-qptvei.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">PhD grads working outside the academy could mentor PhD students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(unsplash/Mimi Thian)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<h2>Ideas for bridging</h2>
<p>Why not invite back <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/four-phd-grads-in-the-humanities-tell-their-stories/">numbers of PhD grads, those who are cultivating non-academic careers,</a> to take part in mentoring PhD students? Depending on the discipline, could they be invited to act as guest lecturers or co-teach parts of the introductory courses all new doctoral students have to take? </p>
<p>Bringing them into the conversation may broaden the career horizons for the in-program PhD students. PhD students might develop a understanding of how a PhD can lead to multiple career pathways rather than to only one. They would begin to learn how their knowledge and skills might flourish outside as well as inside the university. The grads from outside the academy could provide career networking and perhaps even work opportunities for new graduates. </p>
<p>Grads from non-academic sectors of work willing to lead workshops with faculty members could also begin to educate faculty about the potential mobility of humanities research and researchers. </p>
<p>The presence of grads from the non-academic world might remind those inside the academy that, for more than two millennia in the west, it was the humanities that served to prepare people for work in the public sphere. </p>
<p>Finally, inviting back the PhD grads from outside the university would help to reorient the academic humanities toward a far more varied and active engagement with the world beyond the gates. </p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Yachnin has received funding from SSHRC.</span></em></p>With the support of universities, PhD graduates working beyond the academy could bring their knowhow into PhD seminars or classrooms to help current students expand their career horizons.Paul Yachnin, Tomlinson Professor of Shakespeare Studies, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/494112015-10-21T10:31:54Z2015-10-21T10:31:54ZWomen preferred for STEM professorships – as long as they’re equal to or better than male candidates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99117/original/image-20151021-32255-14wyo4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How much do hiring decisions in academia factor in the gender of the applicant?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=268365578&src=id">Files image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the 1980s, there has been robust real-world evidence of a preference for hiring women for entry-level professorships in science, engineering, technology and math (STEM). This evidence comes from hiring audits at universities. For instance, <a href="http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12062/gender-differences-at-critical-transitions-in-the-careers-of-science-engineering-and-mathematics-faculty">in one audit of 89 US research universities</a> in the 1990s, women were far less likely to <em>apply</em> for professorships – only 11%-26% of applicants were women. But once they applied, women were more likely to be invited to interview and offered the job than men were.</p>
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<p>But what went on behind the scenes with these hiring decisions? Did women applicants give better job talks than men, publish more or in better journals, or have stronger letters of recommendation? Were hiring committees trying to address the <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2015/nsf15311/digest/">faculty gender balance</a> that typically skews more male than female?</p>
<p>To find out why academic faculty preferred women, an experiment was needed, and we recently conducted one.</p>
<h2>Collecting hypothetical hiring data</h2>
<p>Previously, in five national experiments, we asked 873 faculty from 371 colleges and universities in all 50 US states to rank three hypothetical applicants for entry-level professorships, based on narrative vignettes about the candidates and their qualifications. We <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2015/04/08/1418878112.DCSupplemental/pnas.1418878112.sapp.pdf">told participants</a> our goal was to collect information about what faculty looked for in job applicants when hiring, so we could advise our own graduate students.</p>
<p>We asked them to imagine that colleagues in their department had already met these hypothetical applicants, evaluated their CVs, attended their job talks, read their letters of recommendation – and rated the applicants as 9.5 out of 10 (very impressive) or 9.3 (still impressive, but just less so).</p>
<p>One of the applicants was an outstanding woman, pitted against an identically outstanding man. Because men and women were depicted as equally talented, any hiring preference had to be due to factors other than candidate quality. We included a third, male, foil candidate as one of the many ploys we employed to mask the gendered purpose of the experiment. In this previously published research, we found that both female and male faculty strongly prefer (by a 2-to-1 margin) to <a href="http://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1418878112">hire an outstanding woman over an identically outstanding man</a>. The sole exception to this finding was that male economists had no gender preference.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98897/original/image-20151019-23226-98mll6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98897/original/image-20151019-23226-98mll6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98897/original/image-20151019-23226-98mll6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98897/original/image-20151019-23226-98mll6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98897/original/image-20151019-23226-98mll6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98897/original/image-20151019-23226-98mll6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98897/original/image-20151019-23226-98mll6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Faculty of both genders exhibit 2-to-1 preference for hiring women applicants with identically outstanding qualifications, with the exception of male economists.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even when we gave faculty only a single applicant to evaluate, those given the woman rated her more hireable than did those given the identical applicant depicted as a man. Not surprisingly, this finding caused a <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Passions-Supplant-Reason-in/232989?cid=megamenu">media frenzy</a>, as it <a href="https://theconversation.com/some-good-news-about-hiring-women-in-stem-doesnt-erase-sex-bias-issue-40212">contradicted what many believe</a> to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/lets-face-it-gender-bias-in-academia-is-for-real-44637">sexist hiring in academia</a>. </p>
<p>Note that these experiments were not designed to mimic actual academic hiring, which entails multi-day visits, job talks and so on. The purpose of our experiments was not to determine <em>if</em> women are favored in actual hiring but rather to determine <em>why</em> data suggest they are in real-world conditions. To answer this question, one needs a controlled experiment to equate applicants.</p>
<p>Remember that our experiment looked at typical short-listed candidates – who are extremely qualified – at the point of hiring, and did not address advantages or disadvantages potentially experienced by women, girls, men and boys throughout their development. It is worth acknowledging, though, that a 2-to-1 advantage enjoyed at the point of tenure-track hiring is substantial and represents a pathway into the professoriate that is far more favorable for women than men.</p>
<h2>Finding the limit to a preference for women</h2>
<p>We wondered how deeply the faculty preference for women that we’d previously identified ran. Do faculty prefer a woman over a slightly more qualified man? How about a much more qualified man?</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01532">most recent experiment</a>, just published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, examined this question.</p>
<p>Using the same methods from our earlier study, we presented 158 STEM faculty with two male applicants and one female applicant for a tenure-track assistant professorship in their specific field. We presented another 94 faculty with two female applicants and one male applicant. In one contest, the female applicant was slightly less outstanding than her two male competitors, although still impressive; in the other, the male applicant was slightly less outstanding than his two female competitors.</p>
<p>It turned out that faculty of both genders and in all fields preferred the applicant rated the most outstanding, regardless of gender. Specifically, faculty preferred to hire slightly more outstanding men over slightly less outstanding women, and they also preferred to hire slightly more outstanding women over slightly less outstanding men.</p>
<h2>Reconciling with other STEM sex bias research</h2>
<p>These results show that the preference for women over equally outstanding men in our earlier experiments does not extend to women who are less accomplished than their male counterparts. Apparently, when female and male candidates are not equally accomplished, faculty view quality as the most important determinant of hiring rankings.</p>
<p>This finding suggests that when women scientists are hired in the academy, it is because they are viewed as equal or superior to males. These results should help dispel concerns that <a href="http://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1120.1602">affirmative hiring practices</a> result in inferior women being hired over superior men.</p>
<p>The absence of preference for a less outstanding man does not necessarily imply that academic hiring is meritocratic under all conditions. It is possible that with different levels of candidate information (or if the candidates were somewhat less competent, as opposed to being stellar), results might differ. Discrimination may be a concern when candidate qualifications are ambiguous, but, based on our study, not when candidates are exceptionally strong. Thus, our interpretation of our results is that women who are equal to or more accomplished than men enjoy a substantial hiring advantage. </p>
<p>These findings may provoke concerns. If affirmative action is intended to not merely give a preference to hiring women over identically qualified men, but also to tilt the odds toward hiring women who are slightly less accomplished but still rated as impressive, gender diversity advocates may be disheartened. Those who’ve lobbied for more women to be hired in fields <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1529100614541236">in which they are underrepresented</a>, such as engineering and economics, may find the present findings dismaying and argue that extremely well-qualified female candidates should be given preference over males rated a notch higher. </p>
<p>One claim finds no support in our new findings: the allegation that the dearth of women in some fields is the result of superior female applicants being bypassed in favor of less accomplished men. If excellent women applicants were given short shrift, the slightly less qualified man would have been chosen frequently over more qualified women. But this scenario occurred only 1.2% of the time – similar to the number of times a slightly less accomplished woman was chosen over a more accomplished man.</p>
<p>None of this means women no longer face unique hurdles in navigating academic science careers.</p>
<p>Evidence shows that female lecturers’ <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-014-9313-4">teaching ability is downrated</a> due to their gender, letter writers for applicants for faculty posts in some fields use <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9291-4">more standout (ability) words</a> when referring to male applicants, faculty harbor beliefs about the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1261375">importance of innate brilliance</a> in fields in which women’s representation is lowest, and newly hired women in biomedical fields receive <a href="http://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2015.8517">less than half the median start-up packages</a> of their male colleagues – to mention a few areas in which women continue to face challenges.</p>
<p>Nor do the present findings deny that historic sexism prevented many deserving women from being hired, or that current implicit <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000005">stereotypes associating science with men</a> are not related to lower science course-taking.</p>
<p>All of these studies suggest areas in need of further work to ensure equality of opportunity for women.</p>
<p>On the other hand, based on <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1529100614541236">hundreds of analyses of national data</a> on the lives of actual faculty women and men across the United States, we and economists Donna Ginther and Shulamit Kahn found that the overwhelming picture of the academy since 2000 is one of gender fairness. Our analyses examined hiring, remuneration, promotion, tenure, persistence, productivity, citations, effort and job satisfaction in every STEM field. The experiences of women and men professors today are largely comparable, as is their job satisfaction.</p>
<p>Our new experimental findings call into question unqualified claims of biased tenure-track hiring. Sex biases and stereotypes might reduce the number of women beginning training for the professorial pipeline, but when a woman emerges from her training as an excellent candidate, she is advantaged during the hiring process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen J Ceci receives funding from NIH.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy M Williams receives funding from National Institutes of Health. </span></em></p>Previous research found a preference in academia for hiring stellar female candidates over stellar male candidates for STEM jobs. A new study investigated what happens if applicants aren’t as evenly matched.Stephen J Ceci, Professor of Human Development, Cornell UniversityWendy M Williams, Professor of Human Development, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/481412015-09-28T08:43:36Z2015-09-28T08:43:36ZGraduate education is a mess. Shouldn’t universities fix it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96268/original/image-20150925-17694-1endp65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What's the future?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pamhule/5752742624/in/photolist-9LmiXE-pLEgt9-5KFQwp-82BswR-deTMjG-4kbWeV-PrNFu-ujqyxk-5yEcRK-7vFcRJ-kNfdM-ufvnsz-7pUvWd-5KT2T7-nrhMtK-9YUF7a-b355Lz-ei2jH-9JdxjP-wHeKNR-o4ZR6h-7pUw4o-9oRyg5-b355TH-4LfFbq-87NcHX-chFG2h-aJv6Fv-88xR5Z-bSKdMr-kHrkrx-6Zgc8E-7pQB4R-mR5xVW-eAajXU-7PbYgm-8gDbzJ-mz3HXv-7pQBiD-dV5jc-9M3JK9-pg9nXw-6wWpoJ-5Z5r9i-eVHg43-5KT2Qy-5KNN1P-5KT2RQ-e7LRr6-8gDbAb">Jens Schott Knudsen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Colleges and universities in the United States remain <a href="http://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings">among the most prestigious</a> institutions of higher education in the world. But, concerned about rising costs and the job prospects of young men and women with undergraduate degrees, Americans these days tend to view education as more of a business proposition. </p>
<p>As a result, conversations on the broader value of a liberal arts degree have been overshadowed. Furthermore, an awareness of the shortcomings of graduate education, especially in PhD programs, and its implications for higher education as well as for American society in general have been entirely absent in these conversations.</p>
<p>Graduate programs are, of course, essential to colleges and universities: they produce today’s teaching assistants and tomorrow’s instructors and researchers. But, although <a href="http://www.cgsnet.org/graduate-enrollment-and-degrees-2004-2014">admission and enrollment in some doctoral programs</a> are increasing (health sciences, engineering, education, social and behavioral sciences, biological and agricultural sciences), the dropout rate across all program is about 50%.</p>
<h2>“Disorder” in graduate schools</h2>
<p>The fact is that doctoral students today are <a href="https://mlaresearch.commons.mla.org/author/dlaurence/">spending more and more time</a> getting their degrees (nearly 30% of PhDs take at least seven years to finish; the median for humanists is nine years) and, in the process, accumulating debt. At the same time, tenure-track jobs are getting fewer and fewer. </p>
<p>In 1975, tenure-track and tenured professors were responsible for a majority of the classroom teaching in colleges and universities. By 2005, adjuncts and other “temps” had become a “fixture” in higher education with “regular” faculty doing only one-third of the teaching. That figure has now <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674728981">dropped to below 25%, and is going down even further</a>.</p>
<p>Graduate schools, however, have been slow to address such problematic prospects of PhDs. And this “institutional disorder on a grand scale,” is what <a href="http://legacy.fordham.edu/academics/programs_at_fordham_/english/faculty/fulltime_faculty/lenny_cassuto_28525.asp">Leonard Cassuto</a>, a professor of English at Fordham University, calls attention to in his recent book, <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674728981">The Graduate School Mess</a>.</p>
<h2>Why shouldn’t universities fix the problem?</h2>
<p>Cassuto reminds us that universities produce both the supply and the demand of the academic job market. So, they can – and should – assume greater responsibility for achieving better outcomes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96271/original/image-20150925-17736-a7fliu.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">What should universities do to prepare graduate students for jobs?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jin_aili/5824851212/in/photolist-9SHTkb-pRY5m-6BNfMX-euMbG-9SHSMq-9SEZWR-9SF1Q8-9SF1M4-9SF1Rt-9SF1C2-7q6Wip-7q6Wq6-7q6W2T-7q6VZK-7q6W5D-7qaRPm-8a9yNv-7qaRRA-7rtqK9-csTPZY-4gQ1p-7rpuek-7rpunH-8auEms-8a9MBt-8a9LKH-8a9sAn-8aa18g-8acXgW-8acSKL-8a9Xg4-8aa52K-8ad5pd-8acZbA-8aeUn3-8a9vdK-8adhFS-8ada5U-8acYhb-8acRTJ-8a9tp8-fyRuf-fyRto-fqtei-fyRrp-fyRsG-fyRqq-fyRse-fyRpg-fqt5t">Alison</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They have an obligation, as Cassuto argues, to change the curriculum and dissertation requirements to accommodate graduate students who will not actively seek – or get – positions at research universities. </p>
<p>Research institutions, whose faculty sometimes assume that their PhD candidates “would rather repair dishwashers” than take a job at a community college, he writes, should instead teach their students how to teach. </p>
<p>Although not easy in an age of specialization, faculty should try to provide instruction in other practical, transferable skills relevant to, for example, careers in the public humanities, public relations, advertising or marketing. </p>
<p>They should also be willing to offer alternative careers workshops as well as supply prospective doctoral students with information about the academic and nonacademic first-job placements of recent degree recipients.</p>
<h2>Why change will be hard</h2>
<p>From my own perspective of over a quarter of a century as a professor and university administrator, Cassuto’s recommendations make a lot of sense. I believe that most of them deserve to be implemented right away. </p>
<p>However, they will not solve the problem of supply and demand within institutions of higher education. Addressing this problem head-on will require major structural changes in colleges and universities that without doubt will be highly controversial.</p>
<p>Here are a couple of examples that demonstrate how high the stakes are:</p>
<p>Doctoral programs in many disciplines at many institutions may be forced to accept fewer students. Some doctoral programs may be shuttered. Scaling back, however, will mean that someone else will have to do the work graduate students now do as teaching assistants and research assistants.</p>
<p>Reducing the number of graduate students at a time in which universities are financially strapped might result in greater teaching loads for tenure and tenure-track professors or result in the hiring of more adjunct faculty. It could also mean offering more online courses to undergraduates. None of these options is likely to sit well with faculty.</p>
<p>To make room for the next generation of teachers and scholars, institutions may also try to find ways to induce more senior faculty to retire (<a href="http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/28017/title/With-End-Of-Mandatory-Retirement--U-S--Schools-Face-New-Challenges/">mandatory retirement ended</a> in 1994 in the wake of concerns about age discrimination). </p>
<p>At Cornell, where I teach, for example, well over 100 professors over the age of 70 remain on the payroll. Proposals to limit the number of years an individual can retain tenure have not gotten traction at Cornell or elsewhere.</p>
<h2>Putting academics first</h2>
<p>Committed to innovation in their own work and in their own fields, professors (and, for that matter, senior administrators) are often wedded to the status quo in their own institutions. </p>
<p>The status quo, however, is not a viable option. </p>
<p>If American colleges and universities are to remain preeminent, faculty and administrators must embrace change, perhaps even radical change. As Cassuto claims, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the current practice of graduate teaching essentially retails expired passports. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Colleges and universities must work collaboratively to formulate approaches to admitting and training PhDs and to hiring adjunct professors, lecturers, and tenured and tenure-track faculty. Of course, their approaches must be financially responsible and appropriate to 21st-century realities, but it is important that they be based primarily on academic considerations. </p>
<p>The task is all the more urgent because of the budget cuts in public institutions, the prospect of diminished support for research by federal agencies and an uncertain economy. </p>
<p>All this, as Cassuto indicates, will almost certainly make the next 10 years more challenging than the last three decades.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48141/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Glenn Altschuler 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>Students at American universities are spending more and more years on completing their PhDs, only to find there are fewer and fewer tenure-track jobs.Glenn Altschuler, Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies and Dean of the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions , Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/446372015-08-05T09:50:55Z2015-08-05T09:50:55ZLet’s face it: gender bias in academia is for real<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90334/original/image-20150730-25769-btapz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In evaluations, men are often seen as more knowledgeable. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/keoni101/5253162589/in/photolist-91cQdM-7DGg3c-7nSNxc-s6Smnz-ee8MXh-qK4oSS-rG4bCc-rDLyJU-rpBdf2-rptHbU-rpuJWh-rptFXw-rFXRWR-rEx1iG-qL36tP-rov6Lg-qKPPfS-qL361z-bxkkCr-qL2AhH-qL2yi2-rGH7Eo-rGH6Fj-rqetVs-rEwuuJ-rouxvV-rouxCi-rqn7Hc-rqfB2b-rqn7Ze-qKPhz3-rGP5M6-rouyUB-qL2AKX-rouzxv-rqfCbq-rGHTSM-rGHUNK-rqfBSE-rqn8Nt-rqn9mT-qKgYTc-i57zt7-svvKkT-svvKBz-svvKS4-svvKJZ-sdWiLy-dVV5Su-dVPHW6">Keoni Cabral</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cornell Professor Sara Pritchard recently made the argument in <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-female-faculty-get-bonus-points-to-correct-for-gender-bias-in-student-evaluations-43166">The Conversation</a> that female professors should receive bonus points on their student evaluations because of the severe negative bias students have toward their female professors. </p>
<p>Commentators on FOX News attempted to discredit her argument as “insane,” ridiculed the idea that gender plays a role in evaluations and repeatedly mentioned a lack of data to support her claims. But the reality is women faculty <em>are</em> at a disadvantage. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, as we well know, for many women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the path to academia ends long before they obtain a faculty position and are the “lucky” recipient of biased student evaluations. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xcc1Xz6XYPE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>We represent the success stories – women with careers at Ivy League universities. And yes, while we agree that there are more women in STEM fields today than ever before, bias still affects women in STEM, and not just in student evaluations. </p>
<h2>Letters of recommendation and teaching evaluations</h2>
<p>It starts right from the hiring process.</p>
<p>In the first stage of the hiring process, a candidate for an academic position must be selected from a pool of hundreds to give a job talk and on-site interview. </p>
<p>The decision of who to invite for a job talk is based on materials about the candidate including CVs, letters of recommendation from prominent figures in the field, samples of research, “buzz” about who’s a rising star and teaching evaluations. </p>
<p>A large body of research shows that many of these materials, and how they are evaluated by search committees, reflect bias in favor of male candidates.</p>
<p>Letters of recommendation, for example, tend to have a very different character for women than for men, and their tone and word choice can affect the impression that the hiring committee forms about candidates. </p>
<p>For example <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2572075/">a 2008 study</a> of 886 letters of recommendations for faculty positions in chemistry showed that these letters tended to include descriptors of ability for male applicants, such as “standout,” but refer to the work ethic of the women, rather than their ability, by using words such as “grindstone.”</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90335/original/image-20150730-25781-1nn1l47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90335/original/image-20150730-25781-1nn1l47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90335/original/image-20150730-25781-1nn1l47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90335/original/image-20150730-25781-1nn1l47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90335/original/image-20150730-25781-1nn1l47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90335/original/image-20150730-25781-1nn1l47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90335/original/image-20150730-25781-1nn1l47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It turns out that female candidates are seen as less hireable as well.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/notionscapital/15297085447/in/photolist-piKyyx-91cQdM-7DGg3c-7nSNxc-s6Smnz-ee8MXh-qK4oSS-rG4bCc-rDLyJU-rpBdf2-rptHbU-rpuJWh-rptFXw-rFXRWR-rEx1iG-qL36tP-rov6Lg-qKPPfS-qL361z-bxkkCr-qL2AhH-qL2yi2-rGH7Eo-rGH6Fj-rqetVs-rEwuuJ-rouxvV-rouxCi-rqn7Hc-rqfB2b-rqn7Ze-qKPhz3-rGP5M6-rouyUB-qL2AKX-rouzxv-rqfCbq-rGHTSM-rGHUNK-rqfBSE-rqn8Nt-rqn9mT-qKgYTc-i57zt7-svvKkT-svvKBz-svvKS4-svvKJZ-sdWiLy-dVV5Su">Mike Licht</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A similar study showed that female, but not male, students applying for a research grant had letters of recommendation emphasizing the wrong skills, <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/348/6235/611.full">such as</a> the applicants’ ability to care for an elderly parent or to balance the demands of parenting and research. </p>
<p>Furthermore, a 2009 <a href="http://www.academic.umn.edu/wfc/rec%20letter%20study%202009.pdf">analysis</a> of 194 applicants to research faculty positions in psychology found that letters of recommendation for women used more “communal” adjectives (like helpful, kind, warm and tactful), and letters of recommendation for men used more decisive adjectives (like confident, ambitious, daring and independent), even after statistically controlling for different measures of performance. </p>
<p>Perhaps not surprisingly, a follow-up experiment in the same paper found that these subtle differences in the language can result in female candidates being rated as less hireable than men. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, even when <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy.library.cornell.edu/doi/10.1002/ejsp.432/abstract">the same language</a> is used to describe candidates or when the <a href="http://advance.uci.edu/Docs/Nepotism.pdf">key objective criteria of productivity</a> are used, evaluators rated female candidates lower than male candidates. </p>
<p>Teaching evaluations, as our colleague already pointed out, are also known to be biased. </p>
<p>Historian <a href="http://benschmidt.org/profGender/">Benjamin Schmidt</a>’s recent text analysis of 14 million rankings on the website <a href="http://ratemyprofessor.com/">ratemyprofessor.com</a> showed substantial differences in the words students used to describe men and women faculty in the same field: men were more likely to be described as “knowledgeable” and “brilliant,” women as “bossy” or, if they were lucky, “helpful.” </p>
<p>If a female candidate makes it through the “on paper” process and is invited for an interview, the bias does not end.</p>
<h2>What makes a ‘fit’?</h2>
<p>Once a field of candidates is narrowed down from hundreds to a handful, very little distinguishes the top candidates, male or female. Final decisions often come down to intangible qualities and “fit.” </p>
<p>Although “fit” can mean many things to many people, it boils down to guesses about future trajectories, judgments about which hole in a department’s research profile or curriculum is most important to fill, and assessments about whether a person is going to be a colleague who contributes to mentoring, departmental service, and congeniality. </p>
<p><a href="https://hbr.org/2013/04/for-women-leaders-likability-a/">Research</a> in social psychology and management shows that women are seen as competent <em>or</em> likable, but not both. The very traits that make them competent and successful (eg, being strong leaders) violate gender stereotypes about how women are “supposed to” act. Conversely, likable women are often perceived as being less likely to succeed in stereotypically male careers. </p>
<p>Despite all this information, FOX News isn’t alone in its view that women candidates for academic positions are not at a disadvantage. </p>
<p>In fact, one of the commentators in that segment cited a <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/17/5360">study</a> from other researchers at Cornell that concluded the employment prospects for women seeking faculty positions in STEM disciplines have never been better. </p>
<p>The authors of that study go so far as to blame women’s underrepresentation in the sciences on “self-handicapping and opting out” of the hiring process.</p>
<h2>Women doing better, but not better than men</h2>
<p>The fact is at the current rate of increase in women faculty in tenure-track positions in STEM fields, it may be 2050 before women reach <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org.proxy.library.cornell.edu/content/335/6070/864">parity</a> in hiring and, worse, 2115 before women constitute 50% of STEM faculty of all ranks. </p>
<p>This is supported by faculty data at Cornell itself. Between 2010 and 2014, there was only a modest 3%-4% increase in women tenure-line STEM faculty. </p>
<p>In contrast to these data, the study cited by FOX News argued women are preferred to men for tenure-track STEM academic positions. The authors of that study used a research method common in social sciences in which true randomized experiments are impossible to carry out in real-life contexts called an <a href="http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ521/orazem/Bertrand_mullainathan.pdf">audit study</a>. </p>
<p>In an audit study, people who make the relevant decisions, such as faculty or human resource managers, are sent information about two or more fake applicants for a position. The information is equivalent, except for a hint about the question of interest: for example, one CV may have a male name at the top, the other CV a female name. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90336/original/image-20150730-25777-1ize113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/90336/original/image-20150730-25777-1ize113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90336/original/image-20150730-25777-1ize113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90336/original/image-20150730-25777-1ize113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90336/original/image-20150730-25777-1ize113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90336/original/image-20150730-25777-1ize113.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/90336/original/image-20150730-25777-1ize113.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 battle against sexism has yet to be won.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/16750425726/in/photolist-rwbiZy-bhLpFF-4ewkxx-bAFEzi-71NWuN-jsQdBR-kUt6bB-cy9gio-9kFTRv-becAPZ-hSk1S8-becAHi-hSk2Fn-hSjLmq-4EdbyP-4EhqMj-4EhqGh-4EhqGb-4EhqHj-4EhqLh-4EdbAP-4EhqH3-4EhqHU-4EdbCP-4EhqKf-4EdbBV-4EdbBt-4EdbAD-4EhqLQ-4EdbCv-4EdbCK-4EdbzX-4Edbzr-4EdbB4-4Edbz2-4Edbyp-4EdbA2-4EhqNm-4EdbCZ-4EdbC8-4Edbxr-8SDqCq-becACH-djUTvu-e51y2d-9kJW7u-9kJWK3-9kFRan-9kFTBg-9kFQsR">European Parliament</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although the audit study design can be very useful, in the case of STEM faculty hiring it oversimplifies the complex hiring process, which typically involves many people, many stages and many pieces of information. </p>
<p>The authors sent out equivalent descriptions of “powerhouse” hypothetical male or female candidates applying for a hypothetical faculty opening to real professors. Among the respondents, more said that they would hire the woman than the man. However, the study in question “controlled for,” and thus eliminated, many of the sources of bias, including letters of recommendation and teaching evaluations that disadvantage women in the hiring process. </p>
<p>Furthermore, only one-third of faculty who were sent packets responded. Thus, the audit study captured only some of the voices that actually make hiring decisions. It is also hard to believe that participants didn’t guess that they were part of an audit study about hiring. Even if they didn’t know the exact research question, they may have been biased by the artificial research context. </p>
<p>The study by our Cornell colleagues has already generated a lot of conversation, on campus and <a href="https://theconversation.com/some-good-news-about-hiring-women-in-stem-doesnt-erase-sex-bias-issue-40212">off</a>. The authors have entered this debate, which will undoubtedly continue. That’s how science works. </p>
<p>Contrary to what FOX News and some of our academic colleagues think, the battle against sexism in our fields has not been won, let alone reversed in favor of women. We must continue to educate hiring faculty, and even the society at large, about conscious and unconscious bias.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Paulette Clancy, Hadas Kress-Gazit, Cynthia Leifer, Marjolein van der Meulen, Sharon Sassler, and Kim Weeden are professors at Cornell University. Hadas Kress-Gazit, Cynthia Leifer and Kim Weeden are also Public Voices Fellows at The Op-Ed Project.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44637/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cynthia Leifer receives funding from the National Institutes of Health.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kim Weeden was a PI on a National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant awarded to Cornell University. She has also received NSF funding for a project examining gender differences in STEM major completion.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marjolein C H van der Meulen received funding from the National Institutes of Health.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paulette Clancy receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the Semiconductor Research Corporation, the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative and the Department of Energy</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharon Sassler receives funding from:
2014-2019. “Early Career Transitions into STEM Employment: Processes Shaping Retention and Satisfaction.” National Science Foundation ($1.5 million). (Sharon Sassler and Jennifer Glass, Co-PIs).
2012-214. “Race and Gender Variation in STEM Employment and Retention: A Cohort Analysis Using SESTAT Data.” National Science Foundation ($250,000). PI.
2009-2013 “Entry and Retention of Women in Science: A Cohort Comparison.” National Institute of Nursing Research, NIH ($538,500). Sharon Sassler & Yael Levitte (Co-PIS) and Jennifer Glass.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hadas Kress-Gazit 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>Contrary to what some think, the battle against sexism in STEM has not been won, let alone reversed in favor of women.Cynthia Leifer, Associate Professor of Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell UniversityHadas Kress-Gazit, Associate Professor of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell UniversityKim Weeden, Professor of Sociology, Cornell UniversityMarjolein C H van der Meulen, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell UniversityPaulette Clancy, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Cornell UniversitySharon Sassler, Professor of Policy Analysis and Management , Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/433622015-06-29T09:33:27Z2015-06-29T09:33:27ZExplainer: how Europe does academic tenure<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/86389/original/image-20150625-12994-1oj3597.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Germany's universities have two academics classes: professors and everyone else. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/meironke/4611049669/sizes/l">meironke/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The word “tenure” is usually associated in universities with job security and professional autonomy. It is a term familiar in North America, where the notion of a “<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2012-12-28/why-i-have-a-big-problem-with-academic-tenure">job-for-life</a>” for professors who achieve “tenure” has come under pressure in recent years, most recently in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/wisconsin-controversy-with-fewer-tenured-positions-who-benefits-from-academic-freedom-43167">legal case in Wisconsin</a>. But across Europe there are a variety of different employment tracks through which academics can reach professor level. </p>
<p>I have had the pleasure of working as an academic in three European countries – Germany, The Netherlands, and the UK – each of which highlights some of the alternative options to the tenure-track model in the US. </p>
<h2>Germany – a two-class system</h2>
<p>In the 1990s, I began my academic career in Germany – a country well-known for its strong welfare state tradition and labour protection. In universities things were and still are different. Academics are basically divided into two classes. On the one hand, professors are employed as civil servants of the state and hold tenure as a highly safeguarded employment for life. On the other, there is a much bigger group of “junior staff” on fixed-term contracts, research grants, fellowships, and part-time jobs. <a href="http://www.buwin.de/site/assets/files/1002/buwin2013keyresults.pdf">In 2010</a>, 9% of academic staff were professors, 66% were “junior staff” (including doctoral candidates on contracts), and 25% were other academic staff in secondary employment.</p>
<p>Permanent positions below the professorial level are rare exceptions. Becoming a professor therefore means a big step up in terms of status and job security while the road to professorial tenure is long and windy. In many subjects aspiring academics follow a patchwork career for more than a decade, busily preparing their “<a href="http://www.en.uni-muenchen.de/scholars/postdocs/habilitationen/index.html">Habilitation</a>” (a kind of broader second PhD thesis) and eventually achieving tenure – usually at another university – in their early 40s. For all universities, in-house promotion to a professorial position used to be legally forbidden. </p>
<p>For decades, the structure of academic careers formed a highly debated topic in Germany. Various programmes were developed to temporarily support “junior staff”. New positions for untenured “junior professors” have, for example, been inspired by US tenure-track models. They are expected to work more independently from the full professors; and some of them might even get promoted to tenure in-house. However, the basic logic of the two academic classes persists and things are not getting better for junior staff: fixed-term contracts, part-time contracts and research grant-based contracts <a href="http://www.buwin.de/site/assets/files/1002/buwin2013keyresults.pdf">are all on the rise</a>.</p>
<h2>The Netherlands – different tracks</h2>
<p>At the beginning of the new millennium, I continued my academic career as a tenured professor in the Netherlands. Some things were and are clearly different in the lowlands. Professors are civil servants but no longer employed “by the Crown”. In the 1980s, staff responsibility had shifted to the university as an employer and to collective bargaining. </p>
<p>The meaning of “tenure” is different as well. Since the 1980s, tenured staff in the Netherlands no longer have a guaranteed lifetime job and can be dismissed, for example, because of redundancy. These dismissals entail a lengthy, time-consuming and expensive procedure. Compared to Germany, there are considerably more permanent positions for lecturers and main lecturers below the full professorial level. </p>
<p>Tenure <a href="http://theprofessorisin.com/2013/05/13/the-dutch-academic-job-market-for-americans-and-other-english-speakers/">can be achieved</a> after a probationary period of a few years and in-house promotion from lecturer to main lecturer is quite common practice, and is based on individual assessment. It is also quite common for main lecturers to stay on in their position until retirement. It was a stunning experience for me as an academic who had been socialised in the German system; except perhaps for the shared suspicion in both countries that it was somehow “odd” or “bad practice” to promote an existing staff member to a professorship from within the same university. </p>
<p>While I was in the Netherlands, universities started to experiment with new ways of promotion inspired by the US tenure-track model. Practices differ among universities and tenure-tracks do not always provide a route to a professorship. Such tracks also eventually extend the pathways to “tenure” and promotion and raise the bar of performance expectations – especially as regards the hazardous business of grant-making. It seems that life is getting tougher for promising young academics. </p>
<h2>United Kingdom – legal tenure doesn’t exist</h2>
<p>Recently, my academic career brought me to the UK – a classical example of a more regular career system that neither followed the US tenure-track system nor the German “junior staff” system. The long-established system of lecturer – reader – professor allowed for “tenure” as a young lecturer after a probationary period as well as for an in-house career to higher ranks given successful assessment. </p>
<p>This essentially still holds true until today. Over recent decades, UK higher education has experienced major changes in regulation and funding that also affect academics’ status and career. In the late 1980s, much like in the Netherlands, all academic staff became employees of their institution and the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/40/contents">government passed legislation in 1988</a> to eliminate tenure. </p>
<p>Legal tenure has therefore faded away and has been replaced by permanent or indefinite contracts that can be due to redundancy, sometimes avoided by voluntary redundancy or premature retirement. Academics who worked in the UK’s former polytechnics, which <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/sep/03/polytechnics-became-universities-1992-differentiation">all became</a> universities in 1992, never had tenure but rather fixed-term or indefinite contracts. In the pre-1992 universities, performance expectations for promotion are due to local variations but overall the bar has certainly been raised over time.</p>
<p>The tough race to do well in the UK’s national research evaluation exercise, <a href="https://theconversation.com/qanda-what-is-the-ref-and-how-is-the-quality-of-university-research-measured-35529">the REF</a>, and the various other rankings and league tables, plays out in individual performance expectations for “tenure” and promotion. Over the years, the use of fixed-term (and part-time) contracts for teaching staff and of fixed-term research posts has established a shadow market with limited opportunities to rise up the traditional academic career ladder. In this respect, the development in the UK has some resemblance to the growth of a shadow market of non-tenure track faculty in the US.</p>
<p>The Netherlands and the UK show that university systems can be highly productive while providing early “tenure” to their academic staff. Germany could certainly learn from these experiences. But tenure is no longer what it used to be in the UK or the Netherlands. The bars of performance expectations are also raised and the number of academics who are not on the main career track is increasing. As funding becomes more competitive and insecure, universities turn some of their risk over to academic staff.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43362/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jürgen Enders 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>The routes for academics to become professors are different in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.Jürgen Enders, Professor of Higher Education Management, University of BathLicensed 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>
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</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.