Update on KCTCS Tenure Elimination

Many of you are probably aware that on 3 April the faculty at Southeast Community and Technical College voted to give the Board of Regents for KCTCS a vote of no confidence. (This sentence is a little tortured for an English professor, but it is hard to articulate!) If you have not read about this vote, you may wish to read the full news story: http://www.kentucky.com/142/story/750072.html

What you may not know is that the faculty at Bluegrass Community and Technical College are preparing to do the same thing, according to posts on the COSFL discussion list. And I just received word that the Leestown Campus of KCTCS is calling a special meeting to discuss a similar resolution.

I am not sure that such votes of no confidence will have much of an effect, but perhaps extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures. The loss of tenure for future hires in the KCTCS system is a serious threat to the concept of tenure at all colleges and universities in the state.

What can we do beyond offering moral support to our colleagues at these institutions? I think the most important thing we can do is to continue to articulate to the general public why we think tenure needs to be preserved. If you haven't read the recent letter from the General Secretary of the AAUP to KCTCS faculty members (see my post immediately below), it is a great place to start.

Ron