Does the UW still have tenure?
When I became tenured, the code and state law described tenure in terms of a life long commitment to a position and a salary. The commitment was defined in terms of an academic year of 9 or 12 months. For either period, the UW and the state were committed to paying a full salary from state funds. That commitment was also the legal basis for the UW definition of tenure track. If you google Washington state law, that is exactly the commitment that still applies to tenured faculty at the community colleges. In contrast, as I understand it, our state colleges include tenure as part of their faculty union contracts. The UW faculty have no contracts.
My understanding from multiple sources is that this commitment has now been changed without faculty discussion or, for that matter, changes in state law. I am told that the UW sees its life long commitment only to a title and not to salary. In several cases, Professors with tenure have been told the UW will pay only a percentage, as low as 30%, of the state salary. By the way, this is exclusive of additions to state salary that can come to the UW from funding agencies or contracts.
Since the UW has no union contract, it appears the administration feels it has the unilateral right to define tenure. When asked about this, a very high level administrator said, that the offer letters comprise individual contracts. Perhaps so but when I asked if there was any standard offer letter I was told no. The only exception, I think, may be for endowed chairs.
I raise this issue as part of the merit discussion because tenure is valuable for practical reasons perhaps less lofty than the ideals of academic freedom. For many of us, tenure offsets low pay. A commitment to be paid for a career’s work is not something that can be offered in a private corporation or, usually by a nonacademic research institution.
If the UW no longer offers true tenure, why would anyone want to work here?
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