The latest Aggie joke throughout the Texas A&M system is the statement that “you have been granted tenure.” This is a joke because as of July 26, 1996, tenure silently evaporated when a confused Board of Regents voted to approve changes by Chancellor Barry Thompson to The Academic Freedom, Responsibility and Tenure policies [hereafter AFRT policies] statement.
How could such a radical change occur to the TAMU institutions without any protests? The story begins, according to one Faculty Senator, with Chancellor Barry Thompson’s attitude. He comes from an institution about one-fourth the size of the campus in College Station; yet the College Station research campus gets about 20 times more funds. Possibly, in his mind, there must be some fat; there must be some bad faculty members there.
On July 26, 1996, Chancellor Thompson presented the Board of Regents with numerous changes to the tenure policies [AFRT]. Apparently, the changes were so numerous and presented in such a manner that the Regents could not understand the changes. Thompson suggested that the Regents “go ahead and approve the changes, and make any minor corrections at a future meeting.” The Regents approved the changes, but one Regent said she would like to take the changes home and read them [Guadalupe L. Rangel]. She asked the Board not to publish the changes until she had read them.
Nothing happened until the week before the post-tenure review debate on the Senate floor on October 14. A Senator discovered the revised statement on the WWW. Some senators knew about the new tenure policy statement before the Senate vote on October 14. However, the debate was not postponed.
Instead, the Faculty/Administrator Senate basically rubber-stamped a post-tenure review policy to apply to the College Station campus. “The Senate participated in our own execution,” was the sentiment of one TAMU faculty member. Another faculty member called it a post-tenure removal policy. Although at least 35 Senators had been asked in writing to demand a vote on record, not a single Senator had the guts to ask for a roll call vote. [The Faculty/Administrator Senate is dominated by Administrators, with all of the current officers being Administrators (deans and department heads) and many of the Senators are current or former Administrators.]
With friends like some of the Senators, however, the faculty on the College Station campus do not need enemies. One Senator, Murl Bailey, stated in a Battalion piece: “Those worried about academic freedom are actually worried about the quality of work they’re doing here at Texas A&M University.”
But back to Chancellor Thompson’s new tenure policy. One source indicates that a parking ticket might be used to fire someone now [see 4.2 (4); 4.2 (5)]. Any statement that might “destroy the harmony and morale of a division, department or college” could be used to fire a faculty member (see 2.3). A faculty member reporting the unlawful acts of an Administrator would, of course, fall into the “destroying harmony” category.
The chilling effects of this new policy statement are difficult to comprehend. Each faculty member should read the statement immediately for protection. There are now 10 good causes for dismissal of a tenured faculty member plus the shot-gun clause “but not limited to the following.” A faculty member may be dismissed after receiving a notice of cause for dismissal and an opportunity for a hearing.[5]. If summarily dismissed, a faculty member must receive only notice, opportunity to respond to an administrator prior to dismissal, and an opportunity for a post-termination evidentiary hearing appealing the dismissal [7.1].
Although tenure is probably a property right and this denial will be eventually litigated, how severe the brain drain that will result from this mysterious disappearance of tenure at TAMU remains to be seen. Certainly all new potential faculty members should be advised of the new “tenure policy” at TAMU. As the witchhunts begin throughout the system, clearly a McCarthyism Era started at TAMU on July 26, 1996. A strong faculty union may be the outcome of this significant policy change. Hopefully, the University of Texas system can avoid the destruction of a second excellent educational institution by adopting a less radical approach.
By Anonymous (for obvious reasons)
12.01 [AFRT]
Society for A Return to Academic Standards
Last Updated: 15 January 1996
