Education: Tenure Protects Freedom

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Introduction
The question to be answered in this paper is rather faculty tenure should be eliminated within higher education. The debate with faculty tenure goes back some 70 plus years. In the past twenty years the face of tenure has changed, which has led to the need to re-evaluate the issue in higher education. As stated by Schloss & Cragg (2013);
“Tenure protects academic freedom. Yet, the percentage of tenured faculty members has decreased relative to other types of institutional employees of higher education, and in recent legislative proposals has sought to eliminate or curtail it, raising questions about the best ways to ensure academic freedom in the 21st century” (p. 224).
Tenure is vital to the value of a student’s education, high levels of commitment and performance of faculty, and academic freedom. Tenure protects the learning and research that is produced through colleges and universities.
Discussion
Student’s Value
The value of a good education for a student is the ability to learn, graduate in a timely manner, and implement in their jobs what they have gained from their education. Another value for students is engaging them so that they will go onto further their education through graduate studies. As stated by Ehrenberg & Zhang, (2005) “increases in either the percentage of faculty that are part-time or the percentage of full-time faculty that are not on tenure-tracks, is associated with a reduction in graduation rates” (p. 651). The percentage is greater in larger public colleges and universities (Ehrenberg & Zhang, 2005, p. 651). The value of a student education is magnified when they have professors that are experienced and have the expertise in their field of study. The experience and the expertise comes f...

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...rt/1940-statement-principles-academic-freedom-and-tenure
Ehrenberg, R. G., & Zhang, L. (2005). Do tenured and tenure-track faculty matter? The Journal of Human Resources, 40(3), 647-659. Retrieved from http://catalog2.nmsu.edu:2112/ehost/detail?sid=2c1c7d59-b66b-48ae-820c-62d6280675a6%40sessionmgr112&vid=1&hid=101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=ehh&AN=17884411
McPherson, M., & Schapiro, M. O. (1999). Tenure issues in higher education. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13, 85-98. Retrieved from https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ffp9904.pdf
Premeaux, S. R. (2012). Tenure perspectives: Tenured versus nontenured tenure-track faculty. Journal of Education for Business, 87, 121-127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2011.577111
Schloss, P. J., & Cragg, K. M. (Eds.). (2013). Organization and administration in Higher Education. New York, NY: Routledge.

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