Perspective on Tenure for I.U. Librarians: How Do We Define and Support Tenure at I.U.?
In a 2011 Indiana University Libraries Faculty Council (IULFC) ballot, librarians voted that promotion and tenure procedures will become campus-specific. Some campuses are in the process of developing procedures and some already have them. No matter how our final procedures will vary campus to campus, we share the bond of academic status and tenure for librarians, and, especially now, we need to think about what these principles mean to us individually and as a faculty. Although our shared criteria for promotion and tenure remain as stated in the Indiana University Faculty Handbook, even those may change as the result of our in-depth review of the tenure process.
Raising the Question #5 What is Tenure and How Do I Get It?
The most urgent question that any assistant professor faces who has been hired on a tenure track position is, ‘‘What do I do now?’’ That is, ‘‘What counts on my record so that I can be awarded tenure?’’ This is one of the most important issues facing anyone who begins their teaching career in a typical institution of higher education in the United States. The term ‘‘tenure’’ is an ancient one. In 1215, as described in Magna Carta, the term originally referred to the right to hold property. In later centuries it also came to mean that a person in a particular position, such as a judge, or an individual in a civil service position, could not be fired arbitrarily. As will be noted, the term ‘‘tenure’’ in the case of professors is of 20th-century origin. In contemporary times it is a status that is granted for a faculty member, normally after a probationary period of several years. Tenure protects the individual from dismissal, except for cause ; that is, for serious misconduct or incompetence (usually as judged by the faculty senate). The purpose of such a safeguard is that it allows a teacher, researcher, or scholar to study and to make public*either in the classroom, in print, or in other ways*forms of knowledge, conclusions or beliefs that may not be popular with those in authority.
Academic Freedom
Academic institutions in a democratic society exist for the pursuit of truth, the development and conservation of knowledge, the transmission of learning, and the enhancement of the general well-being of such society. Free inquiry and free expression are indispensable to the attainment of these goals. The University of Louisville is, therefore, committed to protecting the academic freedom of all members of the University community.