Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - 20293117
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED197681 AUTHOR: Habecker, Eugene B.
TITLE: Future Uncertain: A Tenure Case Study (With a
Suggested Analysis) of a Small Private College.
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1980
NOTE: 42 p.; Paper prepared for a CASC Workshop, "The Small
College Presidency and Long-Range Planning" (Nashville, TN,
November 17-18, 1980). Tables may not reproduce well.
ABSTRACT: Issues related to reevaluation of tenure at
"Exeter College," a fictitious small, private college, are
examined. Based on analysis of financial resources,
students and faculty ratios, and systematic effects of
tenure at Exeter, a mandate for tenure reevaluation was
established. The following areas were reviewed: the
relationship between tenure and affirmative action, whether
alternatives to tenure should be considered, the impact of
tenure modifications on academic freedom, and
implementation strategies for tenure change. More research
and data are needed regarding affirmative action and
faculty, since it is possible that tenure policies may not
accommodate the goals of affirmative action. Tenure
modifications, rather than abolition of tenure, collective
bargaining, or contract systems, are recommended for
consideration. A tenure plan with a probationary period of
from seven to twelve years is recommended: faculty members
could apply for tenure at the end of the sixth year of
teaching or they could elect to wait until the end of the
eleventh year. All tenured faculty would be subject to
reevaluations at specified intervals, and academic freedom
would be protected by contract. Additional recommendations
are to develop plans for steady state staffing and
establish an aggregate faculty profile, consider
development of an early faculty retirement program,
and involve faculty in implementing the tenure
modifications. National data on enrollment projections,
faculty characteristics, projections of doctorate-level
faculty demand and hiring, professors with tenure, average
faculty salaries at two-year and four-year colleges, and
census projections are appended along with a bibliography.
(SW)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Academic-Freedom; Case-Studies; Change
Strategies; College-Planning; Contracts-; Employment
Practices; Faculty-Evaluation; Higher-Education; Needs
Assessment; Personnel-Policy; Private-Colleges; Teacher
Supply-and-Demand; Trend-Analysis
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Affirmative-Action; *College-Faculty;
*Small-Colleges; *Tenure-
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