The Chronicle: A statewide tenure plan
Gov. Bill Owens of Colorado said in his State of the State address last week that he wants to establish statewide standards for granting tenure at public universities — a move that some Colorado professors see as a response to the controversy over Ward Churchill.
Mr. Churchill, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, came to be seen in the national news media as the quintessential professor run amok after it came to light that he had called some victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks “little Eichmanns” in an essay. Investigations of Mr. Churchill have since revealed that he received tenure without going through the standard review process, and the university has hired a consulting company to revamp its tenure policies (The Chronicle, January 6).
Governor Owens, a Republican, has publicly urged the university to tighten its tenure policies and, before his State of the State address, had said that a law might be needed to centralize the tenure process.
“There are currently no statewide standards for the college tenure process — not even recognized minimum standards,” the governor said in his speech, delivered on Thursday before the state legislature. “Let’s see to it that tenure is given only to those truly qualified professors who deserve such recognition. I plan to work with the Commission on Higher Education to establish a basic threshold for tenure common to all state schools.”
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