Tenure is as valued at historically Black colleges and universities
(HBCUs) as it is at traditionally White institutions (TWIs). Given the
current political and economic climate, however, faculty at HBCUs may
ultimately be in greater danger of losing their tenure privileges than
scholars at other institutions.
The main factor threatening tenure at HBCUs is money. Tenured
faculty is a big ticket item on any institutional budget. For HBCUs
that are financially strapped, the number of tenure appointments that
can be granted is sometimes limited by cost. This explains, in part,
why HBCUs have a higher proportion of part-time and non-tenured faculty
than do other institutions.
“With the economic constraints, one of the primary targets is
tenured faculty and tenured faculty positions,” says Jonathan Alger,
spokesperson for the American Association of University Professors.
“People say how do we cut costs? Non-tenure track positions are often
the answer.”
Alger views the increasing financial pressure on HBCUs as a direct
threat to tenure at these institutions, particularly at the public
HBCUs.
“In many states, HBCUs have always been tinder funded, relative to
other institutions,” he says. “So when budget cuts are necessary, the
state legislators look at [which] institutions are not performing up to
national standards and the temptation is to go after HBCUs because
their programs may not be [perceived] as prestigious or [as]
competitive as other institutions. UDC [University of the District of
Columbia] is a prime example of that.”
According to Sam Carcione, president of the UDC Faculty Association,
the university’s tenure policy is nominal. Instead, UDC faculty are
protected by a “just cause” clause in their employment contracts.
Unfortunately, that clause had little affect on sparing jobs in the
current fiscal crisis at UDC.
“People have a misconception of what tenure gives you,” Carcione
says. “It gives you the right to job security except if they can show
just cause for removing you. But all that goes out the window in a
financial exigency situation….
