Straws in the Wind - Part 5

From Inside Higher Ed: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees, after not publicly explaining why it hadn’t awarded tenure to faculty outside of health-related schools since 2025 began, granted tenure to 33 faculty members this week. “The university administration and Board of Trustees moved these personnel actions forward given the impact the deferral caused on departments,” the university said in a statement. “The university will continue to weigh all factors when considering the timing of expenditures given the current fiscal environment.” The now-tenured faculty are in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Schools of Education, Law and Information and Library Science.

...Emails of the board’s discussion that were obtained by Inside Higher Ed shed light on the months-long delay and why some trustees were hesitant to approve the tenure awards. For instance, Trustee Jim Blaine wrote Monday that he wanted to wait until July to decide because he wanted an in-person discussion and more clarity on the university’s “fiscal picture.” He objected to any “immediate reversal of the decision that was recommended to us in closed session two weeks ago.” He further said he didn’t want to reward “bad behavior.”

“It is not good governance to give your child a cookie every time they lay on the floor and scream that they want one,” Blaine wrote. “The optics on this are terrible and make the administration look weak and irresolute. The reversal of course appears responsive to public groaning and gnashing of teeth—bad behavior by a few members of the faculty.” Blaine added that he’d like “more information about who we are giving tenure to, how much demand there is for their classes, publications, and the majors they teach in, etc.” He also said that “regardless of my philosophical opposition to the outdated tenure model, I think we should proceed very cautiously and with full information before adding that kind of long-term, fixed cost.”

Trustee Marty Kotis also expressed concern in his own email over the long-term costs of tenuring professors given the university’s current financial situation. But Kotis has “consistently opposed tenure since 2014,” saying, “I find it difficult to believe university professors uniquely require lifetime job security comparable to positions held by the Pope or Federal Judges.” Academic freedom advocates say tenure protects that right. But Kotis wrote that “we can preserve academic freedom through renewable contracts and robust performance reviews.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/tenure/2025/06/04/after-delay-chapel-hill-board-votes-award-tenure.