The Herald-Leader reports that Attorney General Jack Conway issued an opinion that KCTCS does not have the legal authority to eliminate tenure for newly hired faculty. We should all keep a close watch on this issue. Here is a link to the story: http://www.kentucky.com/latest_news/story/947848.html
For me (and remember that I come from a department that is made up of about half non-tenure-eligible positions), the most distressing part of the article is the last sentence: "KCTCS employs 5,000 faculty members, of which 890 are tenured and 168 more are on track for tenure." Surely the numbers weren't that different last fall before the issue arose. That means that, even with a tenure system in place, only about 21% of faculty were tenured or on track to receive tenure at KCTCS.
What are the numbers at MSU? I am trying to find out as part of my work on the SACS review. But, from the national numbers I've seen, tenure is already being eroded in significant ways with the employment of large numbers of adjunct and non-tenure-eligible faculty.
On a positive note, at the last BOR workshop, Dr. Andrews made a brief statement in support of tenure at MSU. I was encouraged.
Ron
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3 comments:
I believe the 5,000 number is misleading because it includes adjunct faculty who would never be on the tenure track. In reality there are probably closer to 1500 or 1700 full time teaching faculty at KCTCS and that would make the percentage closer to 55 or 60%
The most recent publicly available IPEDS data show that in the Fall 2008 semester, KCTCS had 1,885 full-time faculty, and 2,766 adjunct (part-time) faculty. Of the 1,885 full-time faculty, 766 were tenured, and 210 were on tenure track. 52% of the full-time faculty were tenured or on tenure track in Fall 2008. The percentage of tenured faculty would have been higher had the KCTCS followed the law. That leaves 909 faculty who were hired in apparent disregard for the law that "says new faculty at KCTCS shall earn tenure."
Two updates. This announcement may have slipped under the radar, but Saturday's Herald-Leader reports that KCTCS has reversed its decision on tenure for new hires: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/951167.html
While the 5000 number may be incorrect, I am still concerned that so many faculty at KCTCS are part-time and thus will never have a chance to earn tenure. This is a national trend, and all colleges and universities are part of this disturbing trend.
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