On tenure and academic responsibility

If faculty members or others in a university think that tenure exists only to sustain jobs, then they do not know what tenure is about. Tenure was established at universities early in this century to protect and maintain academic freedom. But with the protections that now exist in the courts, tenure no longer exclusively serves that protective function. Tenure is now a rite of passage in the university. It is a statement that a faculty member has risen to the next level-a level of greater rights within the university, certainly, but also to a level of greater expectations. With every academic right comes academic responsibility, and if we do not enforce and exercise both, we have failed the university. The great universities are the ones that understand that.

At this nation's great colleges and universities, there are very few people sitting around with time on their hands. In such places, tenure functions to promote creativity and vitality. It also promotes the idea that a faculty member has obligations beyond the classroom-to the university community, to the surrounding community and to his or her particular field. We must stop hiding behind an idea of tenure that limits us. We must promote the kind of selfconfidence that comes when good people know they are being directly rewarded for good work.

Copyright New England Board of Higher Education Summer 1998
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