The ticking of the biological and tenure clocks: Princeton University institutes new policy, placing the school at the forefront of family-friendly workplaces

Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Nov 17, 2005 by Patricia Valdata

Colleges and universities are arguably among the most enlightened and progressive institutions in America. So when it comes to maternity and career policies, one would expect that they'd be at the forefront of similarly progressive accommodation practices.

Not necessarily.

Princeton University, however, is taking steps to ease the burden for assistant professors who are new parents. The university recognized that junior faculty must cope with the added stress of ticking clocks--not just the biological clock, but the tenure clock as well. It's hard enough to edit one's dissertation into a book, while also teaching, advising and working on committees. Add in twice-daily runs to the daycare center and trips to the pediatrician, and what was already stressful quickly becomes a time-management nightmare.

Many colleges and universities, very aware of the problem, have adopted policies allowing faculty to request an extension of the tenure clock, but it's usually not automatic.

"The anecdotal evidence is that women are reluctant to ask for an extension of the tenure clock for fear it may have negative consequences," says Dr. Jane Buck, president of the American Association of University Professors.

Princeton University officials came to the same conclusion after a task force conducted a study in 2003 on the status of female faculty in the natural sciences and engineering, says Dr. Joan Girgus, professor of psychology and special assistant to the dean of faculty.

According to Girgus, the task force's findings showed fewer faculty requested the extension than expected. A report this year on the status of women in the humanities and social sciences showed similar results. Both task force reports focused strictly on gender equity issues without the added factor of race.

"Both men and women told us they were reluctant to use it, because they didn't know how the request for an extension would be viewed," Girgus says. "This was even more prevalent and was said with greater feeling by the women in the survey. There was a lot of concern that requesting the extension would be viewed as a sign of weakness. They thought that was worse than having to deal with the absence of time and no sleep."

Princeton's policy for tenure extension dates back to 1970, when female assistant professors were allowed to request a one-year extension for pregnancy, with a maximum extension of two years. In 1991, the policy was expanded to include extensions for male faculty and adoptions. A workload relief policy followed in 1998. This policy allows an assistant professor who gives birth or adopts a child to stop teaching or performing administrative duties for one semester, or to do half-time work for two semesters.

The task force found that although men and women applied for faculty workload relief about equally, more men than women applied for tenure extension. The survey also showed uncertainty among the faculty about whether an extension would hurt their careers, if an assistant professor opted out of the extension, would he or she have the time to meet the level of achievement required for tenure? If faculty opted to take the extension, would the extra year be seen as an unfair advantage?

One former Princeton professor noted in her survey response, "During my pregnancy [my last year on the tenure clock,] I was never given the option of an additional year. In fact, once l had the child, I was harassed by the chair to return to work, which I did two weeks after my child was born." Another commented, "I have not met a woman who is a leader in my field and who had babies prior to tenure."

The anxiety and questions about the policy led the task force to recommend making the extension of the tenure clock automatic. The university approved the recommendation, making Princeton the first in the nation to do so, Girgus believes.

"We didn't know that when we did it," she says. "We didn't ask ourselves whether other people had done it or were doing it; we simply had our own internal data about usage of the old policy and survey data about people's anxieties, and that pushed us forward."

NO LIMITS

Girgus brought the task force's recommendation to Dr. David Dobkin, dean of faculty, who approached Princeton president Dr. Shirley M. Tilghman.

"She's obviously a person who cares deeply about these issues," Dobkin says. "She was the one who suggested taking it to the [department] chairs and using them as a focus group."

The department chairs raised the issue of the two-year limit on extensions and the possibility that an assistant professor who had twins or triplets might need additional time to apply for tenure. The multiple birth rate in New Jersey is nearly double that of any other state in the country, according to a recent article in National Geographic, so it's not impossible that a professor who had quintuplets would automatically receive five extra years to apply for tenure under the new policy.

"Someone said to me, 'Explain how having twins is not twice as hard as having one baby,'" Dobkin says. "It's just obvious, so literally as we were writing up the final proposal and bringing it to the faculty advisory committee on policy, we made the change of putting in no limit."