AAUP launches Iowa petition supporting tenure

The American Association of University Professors' national cohort has launched an Iowa-specific petition asking House Speaker Linda Upmeyer to reject a proposed bill that would ban tenure.

A form letter the AAUP asks supporters to sign expresses strong opposition to the proposed bill, sponsored by Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, aimed at abolishing tenure at Iowa's public universities and preventing the state's community colleges from establishing any such structure.

Zaun pitched the legislation as enabling universities to more easily get rid of bad professors. But opponents of the bill say the universities' tenure systems include options for termination for cause, and the AAUP letter to Upmeyer argues 'academic tenure safeguards academic freedom and higher education's contribution to a functioning democracy.”

Tenure, which is common practice across America's higher education landscape, protects professors from being fired for issues related to free thought and speech, among other things. Tenured faculty earn it after a six-year probationary period, which involves a multistep review.

'Tenure is essential for the free exploration and expression of ideas and the quality education that we want to provide to students,” according to the AAUP letter. 'Eliminating tenure would endanger the quality of Iowa universities and undermine efforts to attract faculty to the state.”

The letter specifically asks Upmeyer to decline to bring the proposed tenure bill to a vote, should it be forwarded to the House.

Upmeyer did not answer The Gazette's questions about whether she has received the letter and, if so, how many copies she has received. Colin Tadlock, communiciations director for the Iowa House Republicans, said, 'We don't comment on legislation that isn't in the House.”

According to the AAUP, Iowa's tenure bill adds to a growing list of 'legislative attacks” on higher education nationally, including in Wisconsin, where lawmakers also have pitched changes to collective bargaining rights and tenure.

Similar legislation has been introduced in Missouri.

'And we expect more to follow,” according to a statement from the AAUP. 'Now is the time to take a stand for academic freedom.”

Tenure is among many issues university faculty are taking up across the state, including at University of Northern Iowa, where the faculty union on Friday is holding a 'call to action meeting” to discuss collective bargaining and possible changes 'that could cause massive degradation of our ability to bargain for and enforce contracts for our wages, benefits and conditions of employment.”

Gov. Terry Branstad has proposed removing health insurance as a topic of collective bargaining with public employees. Workers worry other possible legislation could further hurt their ability to bargain.

'For over 40 years, the right to negotiate and maintain fair contracts has worked well for UNI,” according to UNI's faculty union call to action. 'Through many university presidents, Boards of Regents and economic fluctuations, our contracts with the board have promoted cooperative problem solving and fairness for faculty and the administration.”

A loss of contractual protections, according to the UNI faculty statement, 'could enable current and future administrations to impose unilateral decisions” on the topics of salaries, benefits, workload, evaluations, sick leave, layoff and grievance procedures.

'In short, the threatened loss of our contractual protections could be an economic and job security disaster for UNI faculty and our families,” according to the statement. 'The only way to succeed against this threat is for all of us to stand together.”

Friday's meeting, according to the UNI union, will prove a 'pivotal moment in the history of UNI.”

'We must let everyone know we will not be idle while forces of mediocrity seek to harm the university we love.”

Both UNI's Interim President Jim Wohlpart and Incoming President Mark Nook recently penned a joint letter asserting their support of tenure, specifically.

'Without tenure, faculty would not have the freedom to create spaces of learning that are at once ‘challenging and supportive,' as our mission statement holds,” according to the presidents' letter.

The message lays out the system of peer review in place to gauge the work of tenure-seeking faculty, and notes recipients have endured years of high-level education, transformative teaching, community service, along with research, scholarship and 'creative activities that participate in advancing truth.”

Tenure doesn't guarantee a job for life, without any form of accountability, according to the presidents.

'We stand in strong support of the tenure system,” they wrote.

University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld earlier this month sent a letter to his faculty backing the tenure system, and both he and UI Faculty Senate President Thomas Vaughn have urged faculty members to educate and inform the public on the importance of tenure and how it functions.

l Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com