ISU Lawsuit - Sex Discrimination

[AuH2O]

"Lifetime employment" simply means that we do not have to re-apply for our jobs every year, as we do while we are on the tenure-track. How many people in the private sector have to re-apply for their jobs every year?

Once tenured, a professor is not "hired for life." Any tenured professor can be fired for a variety of reasons, just like in the private sector. Tenure is a much welcomed security blanket that further guarantees academic freedom, but it is not an absolute guarantee of employment.

Read the ISU faculty handbook. No faculty member is getting fired for failing to perform. The timelines are ridiculous. It takes long periods of sustained poor performance before disciplinary action with any teeth even begin. Those timelines also far exceed the typical tenure of a Department Chair, so they aren't going to bother. It takes gross misconduct.

 

[VeloClone]

Read the ISU faculty handbook. No faculty member is getting fired for failing to perform. The timelines are ridiculous. It takes long periods of sustained poor performance before disciplinary action with any teeth even begin. Those timelines also far exceed the typical tenure of a Department Chair, so they aren't going to bother. It takes gross misconduct.

I said lifetime employment was an oversimplification and Au explained it better than I ever could.

 

[CNECloneFan]

I said lifetime employment was an oversimplification and Au explained it better than I ever could.

Read the ISU faculty handbook. No faculty member is getting fired for failing to perform. The timelines are ridiculous. It takes long periods of sustained poor performance before disciplinary action with any teeth even begin. Those timelines also far exceed the typical tenure of a Department Chair, so they aren't going to bother. It takes gross misconduct.

I said lifetime employment was an oversimplification and Au explained it better than I ever could.

I have worked in the private sector as an Environmental Geologist for a couple of engineering firms. I am honest enough to admit that the daily/weekly pressures there are far greater than they are for professors. I remember "billable hours"

On the other hand, imagine committing yourself to a Masters and then a PhD program (typically 5-8 years), taking a tenure track faculty position, and then during your 6th year you are voted on. You are either in or out. Your 10 - 14 year investment in yourself is completely on the line. And you can denied tenure for a variety of reasons, some objective, some subjective.

But then, I do agree with AuH20 that it takes too long to get rid of bad professors.