A circled red letter D appears on an upside-down piece of white lined notebook paper

Grading Cal State Tenure Density

BY MARC STEIN As the academic year begins for California State University, the largest public university system in the United States, it’s a good time to review last year’s faculty-tenure-density report card for the state’s twenty-three campuses. The results—one B, seven Cs, twelve Ds, and three Fs—suggest that CSU administrators might need to work harder…

Antique brass keys against a wood background

Keys to Unlocking Tenure and Academic Freedom

BY CHAVELLA  T. PITTMAN Imagine a world where our campuses are… …incubators that birth a bounty of intellectual ideas that are fully pursued, investigated, taught, and disseminated. …celebrated because academic freedom is not only protected, but how it is protected has become an example to other endeavors. …reflections of a full range of ideas pursued…

Supporting Florida Educators’ 3/7 Challenge

BY JENNIFER RUTH The Florida Education Association (FEA) and United Faculty of Florida (UFF) have launched the 3-7 challenge. On this page, FEA explains: What is the 3-7 Challenge? March 7 is the start of Florida’s 2023 legislative session, and some elected officials have promised to pass legislation that will limit the fundamental freedoms of…

Aerial view of California State University, East Bay, campus with cloudy blue sky above.

My Fight for Tenure

BY HANK REICHMAN Tenure and the tenure system are again in the news. It is therefore fitting that the latest issue of Academe is devoted to tenure—what it is, what it isn’t, how to defend it, and how we can and must improve it. My own contribution, “Eight Myths about Tenure,” sums up a few…

Boardroom

An Alternate Universe for Faculty Promotion

BY FRANÇOIS FURSTENBERG I have a small but persistent fantasy about academic life, about an alternate review and promotion system for university faculty. Here’s what I imagine . . . You were lucky to be hired as an assistant professor into a tenure-track job. Now six years later, you’re coming up for tenure. You’d like…

Empty classroom with professor

Rising Above Second-Class Citizenship through a Teaching Track to Tenure

BY KRIS BOUDREAU AND MARK RICHMAN In her recent survey of a handful of research universities that have improved conditions for their teaching faculty—particularly those that provide job stability and paths for professional advancement—the Chronicle’s Becky Supiano suggests that while such a “teaching track” distinct from a tenure track can “elevate undergraduate instruction and the…