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Tenure
Apr 15, 2024 13:04:16 GMT -5
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Post by longsuffering on Apr 15, 2024 13:04:16 GMT -5
I contributed to hijacking the meet the coaches night sponsored by the 1843 collective thread with posts about tenure. So I'm initiating this thread.
I like a small school like HC having it's share of tenured professors but being able to remain nimble, too. What happens when the number of English or History majors is 400 in one academic year and 300 in the next? Or the number of overall including elective courses selected in one department is 1000 one year and 700 the next? HC might need more flexibility than a large University with more predictable graduate enrollment numbers in each discipline and more Graduate Assistants teaching classes.
I wonder if tenured professors who can't be fired without cause can be laid off if demand evaporates for courses in their subject? If ten of twelve professors are tenured in a department, and nine are needed for the upcoming semester, can the lowest seniority tenured professor be laid off along with the two non-tenured professors?
And then can the next lowest seniority prof be laid off if demand collapses further when news that the two most dynamic professors, the non-tenured ones were let go? Exaggerating but after living through guaranteed contracts with SK and BN, these questions come to mind.
Maybe HC's large endowment and high tuition works against them and in favor of professors when demand softens.
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Post by newfieguy74 on Apr 16, 2024 6:36:36 GMT -5
I'm not privy to HC's contracts with its faculty, but I would be shocked if HC could lay off tenured faculty ever. Personally, I am in favor of tenure as I am in favor of unions. When I was younger I was a member of the Teamsters union, and also worked in non-union shops. The workers in non-union shops were treated badly. Does tenure sometimes make it nearly impossible to fire a tenured professor? Maybe, but I think on balance it's healthy to have faculty who are secure in their employment and dedicated to the school where they teach. The Increasing use of adjuncts is not good for any school. There is a generation of exhausted forlorn PhD's out there scraping by (I know, no one makes you get a PhD) as adjuncts: in the morning teach a class at Wellesley, in the afternoon teach a class at Bentley, the next day teach a class at BC, no benefits, lousy pay.
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Tenure
Apr 16, 2024 14:14:04 GMT -5
Post by HC13 on Apr 16, 2024 14:14:04 GMT -5
Not certain, but I believe you can only remove a tenured facility member due to cause or eliminating the program or I guess under extreme financial circumstances.
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Tenure
Apr 16, 2024 17:31:46 GMT -5
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Post by longsuffering on Apr 16, 2024 17:31:46 GMT -5
Hampshire might have had to lay off some tenured profs when their then President self initiated an extreme down-sizing. I wonder how they are doing. I believe they staged a comeback of sorts.
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Tenure
Apr 17, 2024 5:48:34 GMT -5
mm67 likes this
Post by alum on Apr 17, 2024 5:48:34 GMT -5
You must remember that English or History (or whatever) profs are not interchangeable. Within the English Department, someone is a Shakespeare scholar, another specializes in Faulkner and a third teaches the poetry of Keats and Yeats. Sure, they could all teach anything, but at that point, it’s not much more than a high school department.
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Post by hchoops on Apr 17, 2024 7:48:07 GMT -5
Speaking of high schools, a tenure story: Upon my HC graduation I taught in a Catholic High school, no Union, no tenure, no pension. After 10 years the three longest serving faculty members, including a priest, were laid off due to budget cuts. At least one new teacher just out of college was hired. Cost saving. I was then blessed to be hired by a public high school, with a union and tenure. During a few rounds of budget cuts over the years, I survived due to the Union and tenure. 30 years later, I retired with a full pension.
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Tenure
Apr 17, 2024 7:58:13 GMT -5
mm67 likes this
Post by rgs318 on Apr 17, 2024 7:58:13 GMT -5
That is the union acting in the best interests of its members - and the system itself. I am glad things worked out for you.
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