The faculty union at Wayne State University says that proposals made by the administration last week would effectively eliminate tenure protections any time the university wanted to make budgetary shifts.
Under the proposal, "they can get rid of anyone. They admitted at the bargaining table that tenure confers no special status in terms of invoking the procedure for dismissal," Charles Parrish, president of the faculty union, told Inside Higher Ed.
According to an analysis by Inside Higher Ed, the WSU administration's proposed criteria for dismissing faculty members -- including those with tenure -- include traditional reasons, but also "the substantial curtailment or discontinuance of a program which removes any reasonable opportunity for using a faculty member's services" and "financially based reduction in force."
The combination of these reasons, faculty leaders say, effectively eliminates the traditional protections of tenure, which don't allow colleges that are not facing financial disaster to disregard tenure status in eliminating positions.
