American Association of University Professors calls for reform of tenure system

“The past four decades have seen a failure of the social contract in faculty employment,” states a new report issued by the American Association of University Professors. Forty years ago, the overwhelming majority of faculty members were on the tenure track, including those whose duties concentrated heavily on teaching rather than research. Today, however, “almost 70 percent of faculty are employed off the tenure track,” to the detriment of themselves, their students, and career prospects in academe, the report continues. “This historic change” affects both those non-tenurable faculty members who do the great bulk of the teaching at most institutions […]