Most people’s vision of higher education comes basically from the movies: a typical professor has a secure job, a nice office, and can bloviate endlessly on bizarre topics. Only one of those is true. The secure job and nice office are basically things of the past. Higher education has changed, and now your typical professor […] … learn more→

I very often hear in the news how tenure, the supposed “guaranteed job” is such a bad thing in higher education. Tenure supposedly granted protection against loss of job, which the tenured faculty can only lose through a due process, outlined in written policy. Tenured professors can be tough to fire, but they can be […] … learn more→

The 1966 “Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities” (adopted by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) (http://www.aaup.org/report/), the Association of Governing Boards of Universities (AGBU), the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU)) stipulates unequivocally that “faculty status and related matters are primarily a faculty responsibility; […] … learn more→

A standard feature of conservative and libertarian attacks on higher education is a polemic against tenure. My own view is that tenure is a fundamentally conservative institution—one that deserves to be defended. Although tenure is not in immediate danger at some of our best colleges, it’s naïve to believe that it has much of a […] … learn more→

In a well-meaning article for The New York Times, Wharton professor Adam Grant proposes trifurcating tenure, slashing it apart, essentially, in order to save it. He ends by writing: Dividing tenure tracks may be what economists call a Pareto improvement: It benefits one group without hurting another. Let’s reserve teaching for professors with the relevant […] … learn more→

My academic career has been absurdly idiosyncratic. Fifteen years ago, I accepted a half-time tenure-track position. (Idiosyncrasy No. 1: Some small liberal-arts colleges like mine offer split appointments on the tenure track.) Twelve years ago, I was awarded tenure, and on the exact same day, divorced. (That\’s Idiosyncrasy No. 2, one I wrote about for […] … learn more→

To be called Professor, or not to be called Professor, that is the question. Yesterday, IHE’s Colleen Flaherty reported on Karen Gregory, an adjunct in the CUNY system teaching a labor studies course, who includes language in her syllabus concerning the treatment and status of adjuncts, as well as the request that she not be […] … learn more→