One consideration, although I am not certain that this applies to Gallaudet, is that faculty members can and do frequently act as ambassadors to the outside world and bring in money from rich individuals and corporate donors. There is also the federal government spigot. So universities do not necessarily have to depend solely on students for income.

Academic freedom also includes espousing unpopular viewpoints. The Vietnam war comes to mind as well as campus protests such as investing in South Africa because of apartheid. More recently, professors have come under fire for theories that 9/11 was brought about intentionally by, ahem, shadowy forces like the Bush administration. One such professor, Ward Churchill, came under fire but he was not terminated from his position because of that. The university where he taught simply took a closer scrutiny at his work and decided that he’d committed academic malfeasance and had him dismissed. For more information on this, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.....ntroversy.

For further arguments both in favor and against tenure, see also

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenure.

Me, I support tenure, but, yes, there are a lot of people who take advantage of that and think that it is a lifetime position. It isn’t.

At any rate, professors can and have been removed from their positions.

I thought academic freedom meant you couldn’t face reprisal for what you were teaching. Meaning that if you covered an area which was at odds with that of the administration, they couldn’t fire you for that.

I have several friends who work as professors at other universities who tell me those evaluations really are a joke because the adminstration doesn’t really put MUCH weight on them.

For example, if someone is doing very poorly in class–they are going to slam the professor and give him poor ratings. Likewise, if someone is doing awesome (e.g. getting consistently high marks), they are going to give the professor high marks.)

They like to read them but they just shove them in a drawer and forget about them. In fact, some don’t even get to read them until like a year later or more. Some of them tell me they have no time to read them because of the academic schedule they are under pressure with.

Just passing this on as I’m just messenger!

Let me interject with my own opinion–I think the end of the course evaluations are really a waste when professors don’t get to read them immediately.

You are right. That is why I take the end-of-course teacher evaluations seriously.

Since you appear to be familiar with tenure and the way a University works, what kind of impact does a negative end-of-course evaluation have on a tenured professor?

You are correct, however, that would probably to apply to any place of employment. If people had tenure at private companies or the government, our economy would suffer.

Perhaps you can help me understand why academic institutions are unique in this regard. Why do professors need protection from reprisals? Why do professors need this protection and not high school teachers?

As for “complaining” that is quite difficult to do when you are focused on getting a good grade and finishing your homework and reading assignments. Not only that, it is only one class and you may not see the professor again. The student can simply opt to enroll in a different professor’s course next semester or quarter.

This has bothered me for some time, but I could be persuaded to support the concept of tenure. The website that I posted made some good arguments in favor of tenure, but there are a number many weaknesses in their argument.

I want to understand how tenure benefits the students.

While there should be (and are) ongoing evaluations of tenured faculty, removing tenure ensures that the vast majority of the faculty will simply tow the administration’s line. Is that what you really want?

If you have a professor who abuses tenure COMPLAIN! The department chair, dean, etc. will work to “educate” the person involved. I have seen this happen, and there were improvements. If the level of complaint doesn’t get results, continue to complain at higher levels. There is no excuse for statements such as those you quote from that professor, but the department chair and dean, etc. can’t read your minds. AND, they need written feedback. Without documentation, their hands may be tied. You have more power than you think related to faculty behavior, but you must use it.

I totally agree with you that Tenure definitely needs to be revisited for the exact reason you stated: stagnation and quality degradation. Often times, its the students that suffer as a result of Tenure being awarded.

I wish that there was some sort of Tenure Standards that professors must abide by in order to retain their status after some kind of set term period. Like for example, every two to four years, they must show cause why they should not be denied further tenure.

Any Ph.D. wanna digress with me and Shane over this topic as its a sore point among students in academia…