How to Get a No-Confidence Vote

Much of the way the faculty operates was designed in the mid-1900s, including shared governance, which was set up to serve institutions expecting to predominantly educate the male offspring of wealthy parents with a “sage on the stage” model. 

But we’ve now got the science that shows being lectured at is not an effective way to get people to learn. And higher ed hasn’t been predominantly male for almost 20 years. Most of us have been serving students that are older than 18 for decades and using more collaborative pedagogy in the classroom to do it. Finally, those of us who believe education opens doors have been reaching deep into first-generation communities for years. 

Still, we’re afraid to touch the faculty structure. Some institutions require that the entire faculty body approve major changes to a program or to create a new program. This makes zero sense. How does a math professor know if what the art program wants to do is appropriate? Just because people share the title of faculty shouldn’t allow them to override subject matter expertise. It sure doesn’t stop them from chiming in with complete confidence and little specific knowledge.

At a hospital, do cardiologists vote on whether the oncologists should adopt a new treatment because they all share the title “doctor”? In a law firm, do the tax lawyers have veto power over which case the contract lawyers accept because they all have “esquire” after their name? Of course not, and it is time for shared governance to move into the 21st century so we can be more nimble and responsive to the stakeholders and challenges of today. 

Some of the colleges that have closed had presidents who wanted to do things that needed to be done (close programs, reduce the faculty numbers, focus on majors that were actually in demand) but could not because of governance shared with faculty who know exactly zip about the way higher ed finance works. The structure stands and institutions are crumbling. 

And while I’m at it, why do we have tenure at all at some institutions? Had we been experiencing different actions from D.C., I might have continued to believe that protecting faculty from being terminated because of their research subject seemed like a reach (if that is how you believe tenure should be applied). I am not so sure today, but I do think we need to have a conversation about this.

Tenure is awarded based on past performance, but keeping one’s current job should always be through the lens of what the institution expects from employees. Higher ed has often confused tenure with employer expectations and with a lack of accountability. 

A faculty member should not be allowed to abdicate standards of service and employee expectations simply because of tenure. I don’t know of any tenure award language that indicates a faculty member can be an ass to students or neglect to do basic functions of the job and still stay in their position. But we all know that is how it often works. Many of those who are most negligent manage to be isolated from ever having to do anything but read their lectures off aged, coffee-stained yellow pads. It’s easier to push them aside than get them to do real work.

And a faculty member who hasn’t published or done research in years does not need the protection of academic freedom, especially if they stick to their discipline when teaching. Plus, why should tenured faculty only be the ones deserving of job security when they no longer represent the majority of those doing the teaching? 

If you lack ethics and are a low performer, tenure shouldn’t matter. When I entered my Ph.D. program, one of my first classes required us to read five books before the class started. On our first day of class, the professor assigned each of us to teach individual chapters to the class, and when he ran out of individual assignments, he put us into groups to teach the rest. During each class he sat in the last row and worked on a computer, only looking up to thank us and call the next individual or group. When I asked the program director how this person was allowed to be a professor, I was told, “He has tenure.” That bad taste has never left my mouth.

If now isn’t the time to revisit this antiquated model, when is?