More tenure review praise from top university officials

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Faculty Chairman Jerrold Hogle speaks about UA's post-tenure review process at Monday's Faculty Senate meeting. Hogle said the Arizona Board of Regents praised the UA's system.

"They were so impressed by the report that they not only passed it but set up a system so it could be presented to other universities," Faculty Chairman Jerrold Hogle said Monday.

Hogle and Elizabeth Ervin, vice provost for academic personnel, said the University of Arizona's post-tenure review sys-tem is a "success."

Tenure review, passed by the regents, allows the three state uni-versities to con-duct evaluations of tenured faculty members.

Documents released recently show that six tenured instructors received overall unsatisfactory reviews at the UA, and Hogle told the Faculty Senate at Monday's meeting that all six have entered "performance enhancement programs."

But harsh critics of the system have plagued tenure review, and Ervin acknowledged that the initial implementation drew fire from many faculty members.

"I think at first there was a good deal of trepidation and resentment," Ervin said. "But the faculty moved beyond that to an attitude of realizing that it was a mandate."

Not all faculty members, however, agree with Ervin. More vocal activists like English professor Peter Medine have said the system will leave a "chilling effect."

And surgery professor Marlys Witte said last month that the universities are headed "down a very dangerous route" by defeating the purpose of tenure.

Ervin said Monday that "accountability is part of all of our jobs" and many instructors agree.

"Most of the faculty feel that it's been a success and it hasn't been the end of the world," she said. "We'll just go forward with it as it is."

Monday's Faculty Senate group also reviewed a pamphlet called "Promotion and Tenure Statistics" released by the Academic Personnel Policy Committee.

The documents state that 41 instructors were promoted to associate professor with tenure status, but four were rejected from the position.

One individual was also promoted to tenured professor. No one was rejected in that category.

David J. Cieslak can be reached via e-mail at David.J.Cieslak@wildcat.arizona.edu.