(NEW YORK) – PEN America today criticized a proposed North Dakota bill for making “a mockery of the tenure system” by injecting administrator control and politics into the process of post-tenure review for faculty, effectively ending the protections of tenure.
The amended version of North Dakota’s HB 1437, currently under consideration by a House committee, would institute a new post-tenure review process at all public colleges and universities. While post-tenure review is typically conducted by a university-wide committee of tenured faculty members – ensuring the focus remains on meeting standards of scholarship, teaching, and service – as amended, HB 1437 would require that the committee would be composed of the faculty member’s supervisor, “no more than one other faculty member,” and an unlimited number of administrators or even private citizens appointed by the university president.
“Putting post-tenure review in the hands of non-faculty members makes a mockery of the tenure system,” said Amy Reid, PEN America’s Freedom to Learn senior manager. “The point of tenure is to guarantee faculty members due process, so that their work is reviewed by a panel of their peers and according to nonpartisan standards of research and teaching. HB 1437 would ban universities and colleges from allowing faculty-led post-tenure review committees, replacing them instead with committees appointed by university presidents – which will include at least one ‘ranking administrator’ and could include other administrators, friends of the president, private citizens, or even politicians. We call on the North Dakota legislature to reject this provision and give their faculty a fair shake, by allowing post-tenure review by a committee of professors with the expertise to ensure that the highest academic standards are fairly applied.”
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.
Contact: Malka Margolies, [email protected], (718)530-3582