Bill would end tenure at Oklahoma colleges

A bill has been introduced in the Oklahoma state House of Representatives that would end the practice of granting professors tenure.

State Rep. Corey Holland (R-Marlow) introduced House Bill 2598 on Jan. 16. The bill, which would take effect Nov. 1 if approved, would end the practice of tenure at Oklahoma's universities. Instead, new professors would be put on probationary contracts for a year, and subsequently subject to annual contracts.

The contracts of all "administrative and instructional personnel" would be annually approved by the university's president, according to the bill.

Should the bill be made law, no university employee would be granted tenure, a multiyear contract or a continuing contract, aside from the university's president.

The bill would also deny employees whose contracts have not been renewed the right to an explanation of the reasons for their non-renewal.

In addition, the bill would allow a board of regents to dismiss an employee despite their contract if the university president recommends their removal and notifies the employee of their dismissal in writing. The regents must then grant the dismissed employee the right to a hearing.

On Feb. 7, the bill was referred to the House Committee on Higher Education and Career Tech, which meets at 3 p.m. Tuesday. State Rep. Cory Williams (D-Stillwater), a member of the committee, said he isn't sure if the bill will make it onto the house floor for a full vote.

"We have bills heard all the time that we intend to get rid of in committee, and I cannot say with absolute certainty this is on that list," Williams said. "I think if people realize that this will have a devastating impact on our ability to recruit talent to teach, research and publish from our university, surely it has to die in committee."

Williams said the tenure process is more difficult than some believe.

"I don't think it's easy for professors to gain tenure," he said. "If the peer review process is working the way it's supposed to be working and everybody along the way is doing their job and making tenure-track professors prove themselves through publication and research, then no; it's an incredibly difficult process to get through."

But Williams also said there are some problems with tenure that need to be addressed.

"I don't think you should be able to abuse it," he said. "People shouldn't see it as, ‘Well, I've got tenure. Now I'm done. I'm checked out. I don't have to do a damn thing, and there's nothing you can do to me.'"

Williams said eliminating tenure for faculty would deter talented professors from coming to Oklahoma.

"We've already kind of shackled our colleges and universities with our pay scale on what we offer incoming talent," he said. "If you're going to also start attacking what can be considered a benefit in the academic world, you're going to be hard-pressed to attract the kind of talent that we're seeking to attract at our major universities."

Williams said he believes there is a better way to address the problems universities face with removing tenured professors.

"Are there some things that could be added to the process to make the removal of non-functioning professors easier? I think probably so," he said. "But I don't think that throwing the baby out with the bath water is the proper solution to that."

As a member on the committee considering the bill Tuesday, Williams said he'll be voting against the bill.

"I like academic integrity and academic freedom," he said. "Therefore, I don't support the elimination of tenure."