Advocate Online

The Dialogue Question:
Should untenured faculty vote on tenure and promotion?

Yes, separate but equal? Did we forget Dr. Seuss’s star-bellied sneeches?
Paula Pedersen *

Separate but equal was the argument for racist voting privileges and it applies to the division between non-tenure and tenure track status as well. There is a new trend in higher education. Contract faculty currently represent a growing number of teaching faculty in universities across the country. During my first 10 years, I was the only such faculty in the psychology department. Currently, in my 16th year, contracts occupy 7 of the 18 positions.

Non-tenure track faculty want job security, fair pay, and adequate teaching resources. But they also want professional treatment. In my department, it is predominately the contract faculty who advise the psychology club and peer advisors. They organize retreats and take students abroad. They add new courses to the curriculum, participate in online education, and invigorate the department with innovative ideas. However, in spite of their contributions, their voices are not counted in long-range planning.

Recently, when asked if he had consulted with his colleagues, the chair of a departmental visioning committee said “I consulted with my tenure and tenure-track colleagues presuming they have the greatest investment in the future of this department.”

Ironically, although several of my contract colleagues were present, our newest tenure-track faculty member was absent, applying for a position elsewhere. It is he who will be allowed to vote in the upcoming election for a new department chair. To presume that contract faculty have a lesser investment in the university is simply incorrect.

Separate status only creates a split system of those with stars on their bellies and those without.

* Paula Pedersen is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She is a member of the United Education Association, an NEA higher education affiliate, and active in various campus-wide committees.

No, allowing untenured faculty to vote on tenure and promotion creates an ethical dilemma.
Robert M. Sanford *

Some academic units allow untenured faculty to sit in judgment on promotion and tenure—one of the most serious tasks of the university, and something that affects the trajectory of a person’s career.

To my mind, the exercise of such a crucial responsibility is the de facto provenance of senior faculty, who have gone through the process themselves and who understand the concrete demands and expectations that tenure brings.

The pressure on new, relatively junior faculty can be intense. Why add to it by placing them in a no-win situation? If everyone is allowed to vote, the new faculty who chose not to do so may risk censorship from those colleagues who see this as an abrogation of their duty. And if they do participate, they risk incurring the ire of others in their department on the basis of how they vote.

Even if it is a happy situation where everybody is wonderful and deserving of promotion and tenure, the fact remains that untenured, junior faculty do not have tenure because they are as yet unproven. They have not had their own qualifications vetted and are not yet in a position to vet the qualifications of others. Some departments have untenured faculty vote simply because the units are too small to rely on senior faculty. Other departments want all faculty to participate because they see this as a true, egalitarian, and collegial effort. But untenured and junior faculty are not true equals. Academic ranks and probationary periods exist for good reason. Senior faculty are the guardians of university culture and department values. The system works best when the academy does not elevate the responsibilities of junior faculty beyond their experience and authority.

* Robert Sanford is an associate professor of environmental science and policy at the University of Southern Maine. A former chapter president of the Vermont State Employees Association, Sanford joined the Associated Faculties of the University of Maine system, an NEA affiliate, in 1997.