Tenure and America’s
Community Colleges
BY FRANK DIMARIA
From The Hispanic Outlook in
Higher Education
America’s colleges and universi–
ties have been moving slowly but
steadily away from tenure over the
past decade. The American Fed–
eration of Teachers reports that
community colleges have seen a
22%
increase in the number of in–
structional staff between
1997
and
2007.
During that time, the percent–
age of community college faculty
that were full-time tenured or on
a tenure track dropped from 21%
to
18%
while the contingent or ad–
junct faculty grew from
79%
to
82%.
The U.S. Department of Educa–
tion reported in the fall of
2009
that
16%
of community college faculty
members were employed full time
with tenure or were on a tenure
track, 16% were full-time and not
on tenure track, and a full
69%
were
part-time.
“The proportion of faculty off
the tenure track has been growing
in community colleges, as in other
types ol institutions, over the last
several decades,“ says John Curtis,
director of research and public
policy at the American Association
of University Professors (AAUP).
John Roueche, director and Sid
W. Richardson Regents Chair in
Community College Leadership,
University of Texas-Austin, says
that over the next five to
10
years,
the notion of tenure as a lifetime
expectation is going to change dra–
matically “because it locks in fac–
ulty for a long time and, given the
great uncertainty of enrollment, it
locks the organization down.
“For example, if you have a
strong business program with a
strong faculty locked in and all of
a sudden enrollment drops, and
people are moving into, say, allied
health, you’re left with faculty that
you have to either retool, retrain,
or you’ll have very low class sizes,
which will threaten the financial
stability of the institution.“ Insti–
tutions are satisfied with hiring
Frank DiMaria is a
regular contributor
to
The Hispanic Outlook in Higher
Education.
Condensed,
with permission, from The Hispanic Outlook in
Higher Education, 22
(March
26,
2012),
16-17.
Published
at
80 Route 4
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Tenure and America’s Community Colleges
senior lecturers who are “at will“
employees and will have an ap–
pointment for as long as there is a
need for their services.
Pros and Cons of Tenure
Whether the move away from
offering tenured positions affects
the quality of students‘ education
is up for debate. Curtis makes the
tenure argument that the
AAUP
has
been making for nearly the past
century: Tenure first and foremost
protects academic freedom and
allows tenured faculty members
to feel secure in the knowledge
that they will not lose their jobs
simply for raising a controversial
issue or challenging students to
perform at higher levels. This
academic freedom, according to
with students that goes beyond
the confines of a single class,“
says Curtis. “Since community
colleges serve a larger proportion
of first-generation and low-income
students, it’s particularly impor–
tant that their faculty members
be given full support to bring a
first-rate educational experience
to those students.“
Roueche disagrees and says
that whether or not a professor
has tenure has little effect on the
quality of a student’s education. At
the dawn of the 20th century, ten–
ure was necessary to protect free
speech and the ability for faculty
members to speak the truth as they
see it, he says. But job security is
beyond question today.
“You’ve got the
AAUP,
the Civil
