[X] My Assistant

[tedstryk]

I just thought I would mention that I am at last no longer a term instructor. I accepted my first tenure track position yesterday. Being a term instructor is better than an adjunct, in that includes benefits, but it basically means (at least here in TN) that you have little chance of advancement and can be fired without cause (in other words, they could have replaced me at any point and would not have needed a reason or to inform me if there was a reason). I must say I am in quite a good mood right now....

[nprev]

Well, congrats to you as well, TGlotch!

Silly question here: I understand what tenure is, in a general sense. Why is it so difficult to achieve? Do most colleges/universities have just a fixed number of tenured slots, apparently far fewer than their overall instructor requirements?

Hope this isn't politically sensitive in any way; just curious, is all. I've had minimal contact with academia, and intend to have none after my thesis is accepted (nothing personal at all; I'm just several light-years beyond burned out, need a few years to reconstitute!)

EDIT: Argh, never mind; did some reading, understand it well enough now. BIG congrats to Ted & TGlotch; really respect their achievements now after some edification!

[tedstryk]

Congratulations, TGlotch!


Although it varies from school to school, it is hard to get because once you have tenure, it is very hard to fire you. It is used to preserve academic freedom, in the sense that once someone is tenured, they don't have to worry about retribution from administrators who don't like the fact that they are advocating positions different from their own. Also, faculty engage in a lot of peer review for promotion and retention, and if there were no tenured faculty to serve on such committees, one might fear retribution if they, for example, voted against someone else's promotion, should that person ever end up in administration. Also, it protects higher ranking faculty from being fired simply because people fresh out of grad school are cheaper. My previous teaching job was full time (and at a different school) and had a contract that said I could be fired at any point, with or without cause. Also, if I was fired, it stipulated that I was not entitled to know if it was for cause or not (in other words, they didn't have to tell me whether I had done something wrong or they simply knew of someone they liked better), and that if fired for cause, I was also not entitled to know what the cause was. That would make it hard to challenge, since one wouldn't know what one was challenging. I served on several committees that reviewed proposals for changes in academic policy that were favored by the administration. It was kind of a joke, given that voting against any of these changes would be standing up to someone who could easily fire me.
In my current position, even though I just am on track to get tenure, I still would have to actually do something wrong to get fired, and I would be entitled to know what I did. On a tenure track position, you have a period of time (in my case 4 years, although my previous work at the other school may be counted as one of those years - that is still being decided) before you are eligible for tenure, and must have tenure within seven years or you are automatically terminated. If you apply for tenure and are denied, you have one more shot before you are terminated. So, at the end of the process, you either have job security for life or are unemployed, with nothing in the middle.
It varies from school to school, but that is a basic explaination.