TENURE IN CRISIS: update of 10/23 and Faculty Letter to Alumnae of 5/03.
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Statement of Concern: UPDATE
Wells Chapter of AAUP
October, 2003
The Wells Chapter of the American Association of University Professors continues to
have serious concerns regarding the loss of tenure-track positions through attrition.
The quality of our academic program and our ability to attract and retain students
are greatly impaired by these losses. Tenure-track positions give continuity to long-range
curricular planning and ensure that important components of the liberal arts curriculum
are neither subject to short-term influences nor lost completely.
Wells College has a small faculty, and our academic programs rest on specific individuals.
When we lose a tenure-track line in one major, it is not only that major that suffers.
The effects can be detrimental to interdisciplinary majors. Eliminating tenure through attrition severely threatens the continuation of all of our programs and
erodes the overall quality of the college. The loss of tenure-track positions is
affecting our ability to staff general requirement courses.... In addition, we cannot
attract -- and keep -- high-quality faculty without tenure.
The lists below reflect losses and gains in tenure-track positions over the past ten
years, Many of the lost positions are important to the integrity of a liberal arts
college.
Tenure-track lines that were open at one time, but have since been filled are not
listed below. It should be noted, however, that there is often a considerable lag
time between the retirement or the resignation of a faculty member and the subsequent
appointment of a another into that tenure-track line. This lag time also results in difficulties
maintaining the continuity of programs, providing consistency in the quality of education
and retaining students. This lag time also gives us concern.
Positions Lost
1. Religion - 1992
2. French - 1992
3. English - 1993
4. Russian - 1995
5. Italian - 1995
6. Physical Education -1996
7. Art History - 1996
8. Education (.5) - 2001
9. Religion - 2001
10. Physics and Computer Sciences - 2002
11. Philosohy 92/3) and Religion (1/3) - 2002
12. German - 2003
13. Art History - 2003
14. Education - 2003
15. Political Science - 2003
Positions Added
1. Education - 1998
2. Anthropology/Religion - 2000
3. Environmental Studies - 2001
4. Sociology (.5) - 2002
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TENURE IN CRISIS: Letter to Wells Alumne from Wells College Professors, May 2003
Dear Wells Alumnae:
We are writing to share our grave concern about the loss of tenure-track positions
at Wells.
The enclosed Statement of Concern was read at the April meeting of the Wells faculty.
The Statement was endorsed unanimously at a special meeting of the faculty on April
23, 2003 and was distributed to the Board of Trustees at their May meeting.
The Board approved one additional tenure-track position in French on May 3, 2003.
You may also be interested in a letter to the president from the Academic Program
and Policy Committee that expresses concern about loss of tenure and academic program
budget cuts. The letter can be accessed at the following link:
http://aurora.wells.edu/~appc/02_03/budlett.txt
Wells students have also expressed their concern about the loss of tenure-track positions.
Collegiate endorsed the AAUP Statement of Concern, and there were two articles printed
in support of tenure in The Onyx, the student newspaper. There was also a well-organized student protest on this issue when the trustees were on campus in early
May.
We encourage you to share this letter with other alumnae.
If you wish to contact the Wells chapter of AAUP, you may do so via [email protected].
Sincerely,
American Association of University Professors Wells College
Members:
Christopher Bailey
Bruce Bennett
G. Alan Clugston
Candace Collmer
Waltraut Deinert
Cynthia Garrett
Miguel Gil
Pilar Greenwood
Shelby Harris
Scott Heinekamp
Cynthia Koepp
Ken Larson
Tukumbi Lumumba-Kasongo
Laura McClusky
Milene Morfei
Victoria Muñoz
Niamh O' Leary
Ernie Olson
Arnold Shilepsky
Carol Shilepsky
Sally Sievers
Amy Staples
Crawford Thoburn,
A. Thomas Vawter
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Statement of Concern
Wells Chapter of AAUP
April, 2003
The Wells Chapter of the American Association of University Professors has serious
concerns regarding the continued loss of tenure-track positions through attrition.
The quality of our academic program and our ability to attract and retain students
are greatly impaired by these losses. Tenure-track positions give continuity to long-range
curricular planning and ensure that important components of the liberal arts curriculum
are not subject to short-term influences. Wells College has a small faculty, and our academic programs rest on specific individuals. Eliminating tenure through
attrition severely threatens the continuation of programs and erodes the overall
quality of the college. In addition, we cannot attract - and keep - high-quality
faculty without tenure. The lists below reflect losses and gains in tenure-track positions
over the past ten years. Many of the lost positions are integral to the liberal
arts.
Positions Lost 1. Religion - 1992 2. French -1992 3. English - 1993 4.
Russian - 1995 5. Italian - 1995 6. Physical Education - 1995 7. Art History
- 1996 8. Sociology and Education (.5) - 2001 9. Religion -- 2001 10. French
-- 2001 11. Physics and Computer Science - 2002 12. Philosophy (2/3) and Religion
(1/3) - 2002 13. German - 2003 14. Art History - 2003 15. Education - 2003
Positions Added 1. Education - 1998 2. Anthropology and Religion - 2000
3. Environmental Studies - 2001 4. Sociology (.5) - 2002
The 1995 edition of the American Association of University Professors: Policy Documents and Reports
(p. 3) states:
Tenure is a means to certain ends; specifically: (1) freedom of teaching and research
and of extramural activities, and (2) a sufficient degree of economic security to
make the profession attractive to men and women of ability. Freedom and economic
security, hence, tenure, are indispensable to the success of an institution in fulfilling
its obligations to its students and to society.
Respectfully submitted,
Milene Z. Morfei, President Wells Chapter of AAUP
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