University Senate voted Wednesday to approve changes to the qualifications for receiving tenure at Syracuse University. The changes passed unanimously at the afternoon meeting in Maxwell Auditorium.

One of the main changes adds a new category, called ‘publicly engaged scholarship,’ to the considerations for awarding tenure. The phrase describes work that involves the community and fulfills civic responsibility, adding another avenue through which professors can receive tenure.

Tenure secures a faculty member’s employment and guarantees they cannot be let go without cause. It gives professors academic freedom and the ability to stray from traditional opinion without the concern that they could be fired.

Hub Brown, a professor of broadcast journalism and a member of the USen Academic Affairs Committee, detailed each of the changes made to the tenure policies since the last meeting. The discussion that followed focused on the wording of those changes.

Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric Spina fielded many of the questions brought forth by senators and other professors. Faculty commented that they were pleased with the changes, and that the details about research and scholarship helped clarify university expectations for tenure.

Harvey Teres, an English professor and member of the Academic Affairs Committee, said he believes SU is the first university in the country to officially change its tenure policy to include this type of scholarship. SU made changes ‘where the rubber hits the road,’ he said.

‘Faculty members are going to be rewarded for all kinds of work,’ Teres said. ‘This kind of work is not going to be marginalized anymore. It’s not going to be risky to do. And faculty have bought in. We’ve not only changed the policy, but we’ve changed the culture.’

Teres said the issue has been a long conversation, and many people had serious reservations about the changes. But it’s remained civil, he said, and the criticism of those opposed helped contribute to shaping the policies.

One passage of the document was taken out of the policies. A category called ‘Setting expectations and assessing progress’ discussed a required review that each tenure-track faculty member must go through in his or her third year at SU before they are officially eligible to receive tenure.

Conflict about the passage centered on a letter that must be written after the review and placed in the college and Academic Affairs files. The passage was taken out of the new policies before they were passed, and Spina said it will be clarified and incorporated into another university document.

Bruce Carter, associate dean of the College of Human Ecology who serves on three of USen’s committees, said the meeting was an interesting culmination to the process of debating the changes.

‘Tenure documents in general, like lots of policies and procedures, are living documents,’ Carter said. ‘So as we go forward, we’ll actually find where we’ve missed elements that should have been addressed. And this element, at least in this document, will come back, I’m sure, at different points in time as we refine the document to make it a better system.’

Robert McClure, a professor of political science who serves on the Academic Freedom, Tenure and Professional Ethics Committee, agreed that the meeting served as a culmination of trying to resolve many different opinions.

‘The outcome that was achieved after the hard, thoughtful deliberation resolved different points of view,’ McClure said. ‘It was an excellent outcome, one that serves the institution over the long run.’

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Published on March 25, 2009 at 12:00 pm