Not the sort of article you want to read while preparing your tenure portfolio

The University of North Texas rejected twelve tenure applications this year. The president claims that departments and divisions were not properly adhering to standards; the faculty claim that the president unfairly altered requirements without telling anyone. Did the assistant professors in question have consistently positive evaluations during their stay at the University of North Texas? Were there negative paper trails in their files? Both points, I imagine, could well come into play if anyone decides to sue--never mind the possibility that the president simply changed the rules. While the courts have generally frowned on interfering in tenure cases at private institutions or tenure cases where quality assessment is at issue, they've been much more willing to jump in when there are clear-cut procedural violations.

Comments

[bob]

UNT is a (sizeable) state school, which should remove any reluctance based on public/private institution issues.