BY MARYBETH GASMAN

All one has to do in order to understand the depth of anxiety felt by assistant professors on the tenure track is to spend an hour on Twitter following the hashtags #academictwitter or #academicchatter. Tenure-track faculty members are feeling uncertain, stressed, overworked, and frightened of the tenure process and its unforgiving inhumanity.

COVID-19 has made an already uncertain process even messier. It has been particularly stressful for faculty members who have had to take on second jobs as teachers of their own children. And, for many women academics, who are disproportionately the caregivers in most relationships, the situation has become untenable. Tenure-track faculty members have experienced a dip in their productivity, with women seeing the greatest losses. Some have lacked access to campus resources and are unable to do their research, which might involve extensive travel, use of labs, or in-person interviews and observations.

While most colleges and universities are fully aware of these issues—documented in extensive coverage by higher education media outlets—the question remains, what will they do to support tenure-track faculty members who are pursuing the goal of tenure amid the COVID-19 pandemic? And what should those faculty members do to represent and protect themselves?

Colleges and universities should allow tenure-track faculty members to add a COVID-19 impact statement to their tenure dossiers and normalize the inclusion of this statement with reviewers and tenure letter writers. In this statement, tenure candidates should talk about any new responsibilities that they faced at home and work as a result of the pandemic. They should note any unexpected challenges in their lives, including changes to their teaching, changes in resources available to them, and interruptions to their research. On a more positive note, they should also mention any innovations that they have implemented in terms of teaching, research, or advising because of the pandemic, demonstrating their ingenuity and creativity.

New York University offers a good example of what to include in a COVID-19 impact statement. Moreover, the institution makes it clear that “the information that you provide in this COVID-19 impact statement will not negatively affect your review. At a minimum, the information will be treated neutrally and at a maximum, it may positively impact your review.” In addition, NYU shares the statement with both internal and external reviewers, giving them direction on how to review the statement and noting that its inclusion is part of the NYU tenure process as a result of COVID-19.

Other colleges and universities are offering tenure-track faculty members a one-year extension to their tenure timeline unless the faculty member rejects it. Cornell University, for example, is allowing this type of extension and has implemented an ”opt-out” policy for those faculty members who feel that their productivity has not been interrupted by the pandemic. This type of policy falls just short of the guidelines from the AAUP, which call for tenure-track faculty to be able to “stop their tenure clock for the duration of the disruption.” Of note, a one-year extension is admirable, but we must keep in mind that delaying tenure, which often comes with a substantial raise, is a delay in increased income for faculty. Perhaps institutions of higher education should provide a retroactive pay raise to those faculty who take a one-year delay and successfully achieve tenure. In addition, institutions need to ask faculty members taking an extra year what further supports they need during this time to be successful.

The official institutional efforts to support tenure-track faculty members during and after the COVID-19 pandemic are admirable. However, it is also important that lack of productivity related to the pandemic be openly discussed in a variety of circles. I suggest that tenure-track faculty members communicate any issues with their department chair or dean, and vice versa. I also recommend having helpful discussions with trusted colleagues—conversations during which, instead of merely complaining, one details issues, backed with evidence, that are having an impact on one’s productivity. These individuals can be your champions in meetings and discussions when you aren’t around. It is also important to keep track of any losses resulting from the pandemic (for example, grant funds that couldn’t be spent because of institutional COVID-19 restrictions or books postponed because of childcare responsibilities) and to monitor how your time is being used; this evidence will allow you to more easily compare your productivity before and after the worldwide disruption.

Finally, it is essential that college and university leadership, as well as faculty members serving on tenure and promotion committees, understand that the COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding racial unrest across the nation have had a disproportionate impact on faculty of color. It is essential that this impact is considered when reviewing faculty productivity during this moment. Stepping outside of our own lives and having a sense of empathy for what others are going through is essential to making the academy a more humane and equitable place for learning and discovery.

Guest blogger Marybeth Gasman is the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Endowed Chair in education and a distinguished professor. She serves as the executive director of both the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice and the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions.