The questions of tenure / edited by Richard P. Chait.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chait, Richard, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

College teachers--Tenure--United States.

College teachers.

Universities and colleges--Faculty--Employment--United States.

Universities and colleges.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (352 p. ) ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. ; London : Harvard University Press, 2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Beyond anecdote and opinion, what do we really know about how tenure works? Presenting a picture of academic subcultures, this work offers the results of research on key empirical questions.

Tenure is the abortion issue of the academy, igniting arguments and inflaming near-religious passions. To some, tenure is essential to academic freedom and a magnet to recruit and retain top-flight faculty. To others, it is an impediment to professorial accountability and a constraint on institutional flexibility and finances. But beyond anecdote and opinion, what do we really know about how tenure works? In this unique book, Richard Chait and his colleagues offer the results of their research on key empirical questions. Are there circumstances under which faculty might voluntarily relinquish tenure? When might new faculty actually prefer non-tenure track positions? Does the absence of tenure mean the absence of shared governance? Why have some colleges abandoned tenure while others have adopted it? Answers to these and other questions come from careful studies of institutions that mirror the American academy: research universities and liberal arts colleges, including both highly selective and less prestigious schools. Lucid and straightforward, The Questions of Tenure offers vivid pictures of academic subcultures. Chait and his colleagues conclude that context counts so much that no single tenure system exists. Still, since no academic reward carries the cachet of tenure, few institutions will initiate significant changes without either powerful external pressures or persistent demands from new or disgruntled faculty.

Contents:

List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgments Introduction Richard P. Chait 1. Why Tenure? Why Now? Richard P. Chait 2. What Is Current Policy? Cathy A. Trower 3. Does Faculty Governance Differ at Colleges with Tenure and Colleges without Tenure? Richard P. Chait 4. Can the Tenure Process Be Improved? R. Eugene Rice, Mary Deane Sorcinelli 5. What Happened to the Tenure Track? Roger G. Baldwin, Jay L. Chronister 6. How Are Faculty Faring in Other Countries? Philip G. Altbach 7. Can Colleges Competitively Recruit Faculty without the Prospect of Tenure? Cathy A. Trower 8. Can Faculty Be Induced to Relinquish Tenure? Charles T. Clotfelter 9. Why Is Tenure One College's Problem and Another's Solution? William T. Mallon 10. How Might Data Be Used? Cathy A. Trower, James P. Honan 11. Gleanings Richard P. Chait Contributors Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674262591

067426259X

9780674029347

0674029348

OCLC:

1322125623