By Carlie Abbott, Editor

What’s happening

On April 16, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill that will remove certain protections for tenured faculty within the state legislature and would allow the future of tenure in the state to become elusive. While students may not face the consequences of this bill at this present moment, its outcomes may affect higher education in Tennessee going forward.

House Bill 2194 outlines new procedures for the dismissal of tenured faculty members, eliminating previous protections, such as the right to counsel and a hearing, cross-examination, a verbatim record, and peer input. This bill could lead to tenured faculty members being terminated without access to the current due process.

Despite the illusion within academia that tenure results in the privilege of never being disciplined or fired for violating institutional policy, that is not the case; tenured faculty can absolutely be fired or disciplined in other ways for many reasons or behaviors. Tenure simply provides a faculty member with protection against wrongful dismissal, a system designed to further academic freedom in the classroom.

What a Student Needs to Know

Tenure is the point at which a faculty member’s contract cannot expire, requiring that they meet certain standards during a probationary period to gain the status of tenure. Pellissippi State Community College Tenured Professor and Faculty Senate President-elect, Grant Mincy, explained in an interview with  Imaginary Gardens staff that tenure can be viewed in a similar way to any other promotion, even outside of academia:

“So, a full-time faculty member will first hold the rank of instructor and, after a few years, they can go up for promotion to assistant professor. Two years after that is when they can go up for their tenure review, and after tenure, they can be promoted to associate professor.”

The steps and processes are what keep tenure prestigious within higher education. For example, at Pellissippi State, the period to become eligible for tenure is about five years. The process for tenure at Pellissippi State includes annual reviews, peer observation, and an overall assessment of whether or not the faculty member is meeting the standards for teaching, community and college service, and overall professional development.

The process is lengthy for a reason; the concept is to provide job security for faculty, allowing the protection of academic freedom. Pellissippi State Professor since 1997 and Faculty Senate President, Trent Eades, explains,

“Basically, it means that you can’t be fired arbitrarily, and there is some presumption of continued employment contingent upon doing all of your duties adequately. You can be fired with tenure; fired for indolence, incompetence, or moral turpitude – a whole list of reasons.”

Professor Mincy shared thoughts on the bill, stating,

“The preamble of the bill opens with a lot of really, really good language about exactly what tenure is and exactly why tenure is important… Where it starts to be a little insidious is that it then asks that the processes of tenure… be separated from disciplinary actions. And of course, one of the key components of tenure is those disciplinary actions.”

Professor Eades also spoke on the outcome of this bill:

“In other words, the chief executive, the vice president of academic affairs, or the president could send you a written notice and have one meeting with them, so you can meet with the person who wants to fire you, and then you’re fired, and faculty are barred absolutely from having any input into this process. That’s what the bill says.”

Impact on Faculty

While tenured faculty at Pellissippi State will likely not face problems in the near future, the consequences may still appear later. The current leadership at Pellissippi State has publicly made statements against this bill, proving that this institution will protect its tenured faculty – something other Tennessee Board of Regents-regulated schools have not all done.

Professor Eades shared that there is a looming fear of academic suppression in the aftermath of this bill being passed.

“I can’t believe that it won’t have a chilling effect. You want your professors in history and sociology to be able to speak freely and honestly about their fields of expertise, but if you’re worried that I say something that the government might not like… then people, whether they even know it or not, will suppress their own ideas. It’s human nature.”

Flip Side of the Argument

There have been many opinions and approaches to this bill shared, not only in local and state news but in the halls of institutions, and most of that discussion has been from faculty and not from the student body. This is not shocking – this bill is not going to uproot student education fully, but it does have the ability to reshape higher education systems. Many could be prompted to think that the system of academia does need change, whether it is in access and availability for both students and faculty, or that old systems must all fall completely before real change can be made. There is space for active conversation regarding these topics.

The school of thought that has appeared more noticeably is the notion that all faculty members deserve the same level of job security with respect to academic freedom. It is an interesting view to take on the subject, and students should be encouraged to think more deeply about what academic freedom means to them and how it affects the quality of their education. HB2194 has the capacity to rebuild systems within higher academia or break it even further, but it does permit institutions to protect academic freedom in their own way. 

Looking Forward

House Bill 2194’s passing is something that all Pellissippi State students should be aware of, not with fear or the belief that their favorite tenured faculty member is going to be terminated without reason, but to be knowledgeable about the institutions that they rely on for education in the state of Tennessee as a whole. The bill is created through a lens of academic freedom and less institutional control, which may grow to affect faculty instruction in the future, essentially opening a door that most believe did not need to be opened in the first place.