Tenure policy changes floored

The bill that threatened the job security of tenure and tenure-track professors across the state has been effectively killed before even making it to the house floor.

The bill, which proposed changes to the termination policy associated with tenure and tenure-track professors, was feared by various professors at USM because it meant the possibility of faculty members being terminated mid-semester.  

If the changes had been passed university administration officials would have been in a position to terminate faculty members more easily and with shorter notice.

Currently, the only ways to terminate tenured faculty is to close an entire program or in response to an unethical or illegal act.  The changes proposed to this bill would allow universities to terminate professors by simply declaring a lack of funds at any point during the semester.

Toby Barker, state representative of district 102 said, “the bill came to my subcommittee and it didn’t go any further.”

Martha Saunders, president of USM, said she does not think the death of this bill puts any more financial strain on the university. 

“It is possible [for a bill like this one to be proposed again], depending on how soon we pull out of this current budget crunch,” Saunders said.

Barker said if this bill had been passed it would have been a “huge step back for the state.”

He explained that the changes would have affected state universities’ ability to attract and retain distinguished professors.

Mark Klinedinst, president of the USM chapter of the American Association of University Professors and economics professor, shared this sentiment and said this is a slight victory for university professors and faculty in the state.

“We were trying to preserve a method that allows for academic development and freedom,” Klinedinst said.  “If this bill had gone through Mississippi would have had a hard time recruiting top-notch scientists.”

“The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning may still try to change parts of the tenure system in a way that also would have a negative impact on recruiting,” he said. 

“We realize these are tough economic times but attacking a system that has produced the finest educational system in the whole world, that helps make our country a leader in many fields should not be dismissed or damaged,” said Klinedinst.

“We hope efforts will be made, at the federal level first, to provide proper funding for education. Properly funding education is the real issue.”

Klinedinst went on to say, “Toby Barker and other legislators should be thanked for their efforts to move Mississippi’s education system forward and not backward.”