As the national economy continues to struggle Pepperdine has begun to cut back on expenses leaving administrators discussing the possibility of staff cuts.
According to Chief of Staff Marnie Mitzie no decisions on the issue of staff cuts have been made but are possible including cuts to tenured faculty members.
“The university is in a good condition; however what we don’t know is what is down the road Mitzie said. Inevitably our endowment has been hit. We have to cut spending to be ready for the unknown.”
Job instability is an issue across the country with the national unemployment rate reaching 4.9 percent and 17000 jobs lost in January. The education sector is not immune to staff cuts and tenure contracts have come under fire in recent months for what many view as giving undeserved job security to teachers and professors.
The institution of tenure was created in the early 20th century in order to provide educators the safety to freely express their views in the academic setting without fear of being reprimanded or fired by their administrations. It has since evolved into an almost universal system in academia ensuring the most qualified educators their job in exchange for academic excellence.
However while tenure provides academic freedom some in the education sector believe that it also ensures ineffective teachers a job they do not deserve. It provides a nearly permanent job contract and little an administration can do to break it.
A similar debate has been taking place at the high school level.
In recent months much attention has been focused on Washington D.C. School Chancellor Michelle Rhee who has been aggressively pushing to eliminate tenure in order to root out ineffective teachers. As an alternative she has offered teachers substantial pay raises if they agree to give up tenure for a year after which they would need a principal’s recommendation to keep their jobs. She said she believes this policy will allow schools to be better oriented to serve students and make teaching positions more competitive.
At Pepperdine the tenure system is likely here to stay. It is a delicate process that ultimately provides power to the Board of Regents the deans of each school and the Rank Tenure and Promotion (RTP) Committee which is comprised of faculty members from each division.
Professors hired on a tenure-track position are able to apply for tenure after six years of employment with the university at which point they are reviewed by the RTP Committee for their teaching effectiveness scholarly activity commitment to the university’s Christian mission and service to the community and to the university.
Firing a tenured professor involves an even more delicate process. Doing so requires severe professional or ethical misconduct by the tenured professor that justifies the termination of the contract according to Jay Brewster Pepperdine biology professor and Chair of the RTP Committee.Other grounds for dismissal include financial emergency a reduction of a program or department medical reasons and retirement.
According to a survey released in May by the non-partisan think tank Education Sector more than half of teachers said they believe it’s too difficult to fire ineffective teachers who have tenure and nearly half say they personally know such a teacher.
In a St. Petersburg Times column published Nov. 17 by Bill Maxwell a professor who received tenure at a community college and at a state university said while he enjoyed the benefits of tenure he also witnessed incompetency on the part of his tenured colleagues.
“I enjoyed job security and academic freedom the most significant reason for tenure in higher education. I had incompetent tenured colleagues at each school who did not deserve it and who should have been fired Maxwell said.
Robin Perrin, professor of social sciece who serves on Pepperdine’s RTP Committee, said that while he defends tenure as a necessary institution to protect academic freedom, there are problems with the system, the most obvious being a lack of motivation.
I could probably recognize examples of people who aren’t doing as good of a job as they should be doing because they know they aren’t going anywhere Perrin said. Our university still tries to create a system of benefits to motivate people. But there’s no question that the most fearful and motivated people are those who do not have tenure.”
Pepperdine has experienced problems in the past in terminating tenured professors who do not meet the university’s standards for academic success and commitment to Christian ideals. In 2007 Pepperdine lost a two-year legal battle against former sociology professor Dr. Ronald Fagan.
Pepperdine fired Fagan after learning he forged several student evaluations but the L.A. Superior Court ruled Pepperdine wrongfully terminated him and violated the tenured employment contract. The administration was forced to pay him $47000 in lost wages.
Brewster said that while problems do arise with tenured professors becoming lazy he does not see it as a systematic problem at Pepperdine.
“Some people view it as an antiquated process and believe that it’s flawed because it ultimately protects people who don’t need to be protected Brewster said. In academia it’s a well established process. Faculty have a certain amount of protection to teach and express themselves freely without fear that there will be administrative payback for disagreeing with the university.”
And senior psychology major Nick Stewart said he has rarely experienced an incompetent tenured professor and that the system provides incentives for professors to work harder while providing academic freedom.
“I think it gives the professors something to work towards to the top of their respective departments Stewart said. I can understand how it can breed laziness but at the same time it gives motivation to prevent laziness Stewart said.