Post-Tenure Review Proposed at Missouri

Black Issues in Higher Education, Dec 9, 1999

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- An annual performance review for tenured faculty could be on its way at the University of Missouri -- a national trend many instructors view as a threat to their academic freedom.

Dr. Manuel T. Pacheco, the university's president, last month issued a memo instructing campus leaders to develop a performance-review system for tenured teachers. Pacheco cited the national debate on tenure and said many universities have established a review system to "address persistent poor performance" by tenured faculty.

Dr. Stephen W. Lehmkuhle, the university's vice president, says the proposal will ensure the development of faculty once they gain tenure. He also says many universities have made similar transitions and added that Missouri would prefer to do so voluntarily rather than face a mandate from lawmakers.

"I think what the president is asking ... is that we as an institution respond in a responsible way and demonstrate that we can be accountable without having an external mandate restricting the way in which we measure our performance," Lehmkuhle says.

Missouri faculty members already undergo an informal performance evaluation every year, but it takes a severe series of missteps for a tenured faculty member to be fired.

Proponents of tenure say the system gives faculty the right to express viewpoints that may be controversial, and argue that post-tenure review shreds that security. The official statement of the American Association of University Professors says that while faculty-designed systems may be beneficial, post-tenure review is a "costly and risky innovation, which may fail either to satisfy ill-informed critics on the one hand and or to protect professional integrity on the other."