Straws in the Wind - Part 107

From the Minnesota Star Tribune: Some faculty are warning that a plan to lay off seven tenured professors at Minnesota State University, Mankato, could spell the end of tenure at the school. In August, administrators announced a plan to cut costs by eliminating seven tenured positions through a year-long process called “retrenchment.”

The faculty association said in a statement that they were caught by surprise, believing there would be no layoffs of tenured staff due to the school already cutting almost a hundred courses and raising tuition by 8%. “This approach reduces tenure and collective bargaining to empty promises‚” the faculty association’s statement said. “If this proposed retrenchment is enacted, it will effectively dismantle the institution of tenure at our university.”

The school respects the laws on tenure, said David Hood, the provost at Minnesota State Mankato and senior vice president for academic affairs. But MSUM needs to be run more like a business, Hood said in a phone call Monday. “We’re no longer in this space of privilege where we’re able to not operate like a business,” Hood said. “And in businesses, you staff your organization based upon supply and demand, and we have to make that shift in higher ed to where we are flexible enough that we’re able to adjust.” ...

Full story at https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-state-university-mankato-tenured-professor-layoffs/601472177.