Higher ed board approves tenure for 2-year faculty in split vote

State Board of Higher Education members Kevin Black, left, and Casey Ryan. (Photos provided by North Dakota University System)

North Dakota’s State Board of Higher Education on Thursday reversed a decision by a committee and granted tenure to candidates from the state’s two-year colleges as well as the four-year schools. 

A committee last week had delayed forwarding the names of the tenure candidates from two-year schools after board member Kevin Black questioned the need for tenure in technical education and asked for more information.  

During Thursday’s full board meeting, board member Casey Ryan pushed to include the candidates from the two-year schools. 

Ryan said the delay was unfair to the candidates at the two-year institutions. 

The board voted 5-3 to include the two-year candidates for tenure approval. Approving tenure for all candidates then passed 6-2. Black voted against including the two-year candidates but voted in favor of improving tenure for all. 

Board member John Warford, who chairs the committee that voted to delay tenure for the faculty, said he changed his position after getting some feedback. 

Warford said he wants to honor Black’s concern but also doesn’t want to change the rules in the middle of the game for the current tenure candidates. 

Tenure in the North Dakota University System is generally awarded after six years of service as a full-time faculty in part to ensure academic freedom, providing some protection for teaching, writing or researching on controversial topics. 

The two-year schools provided feedback to the board on the issues. Four of the state’s five two-year schools signed a joint letter on the importance of tenure to their institutions.  

“Faculty hired with the special appointment contract have almost zero job security from year to year as their contract is renewed only at the discretion of the institution’s president,” the letter said. “Moreover, such contracts do not promote a higher level of academic endeavors, which is detrimental to the quality of education that learners, communities, and employers in North Dakota rely on to continue developing an effective workforce and society.”

The document was from administrators at Lake Region State College, Williston State College, Dakota College at Bottineau and the North Dakota State College of Science. 

Black said he felt the letter actually validated his concerns and those of taxpayers.  

“Whether they (tenure candidates) have controversial topics or not, if they met their six years, we rubber stamp it, we move on,” Black said. 

Bismarck State College filed a separate document from the Faculty Senate Leadership Team, with anonymous responses from faculty to questions about tenure.  

“Without tenure, I am looking for the next best job that comes along,” one respondent said. 

The discussion on tenure is likely to continue, following up on Black’s concerns, on the board’s Academic and Student Affairs Committee. 

Ryan is on the Research/Governance Committee that also has a subcommittee that has been looking at tenure policy, though Black said it seemed mostly focused on post-tenure.  

“I have not found anywhere that there’s discussion about tenure as a general concept,” Black said. 

Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs Lisa Jonson said tenure has been discussed. “There was discussion around two-year institutions. It was not around total elimination, around a reduction of the number and percentage,” she said. 

Want a seat on the board?

Warford is giving up his seat on the board and a deadline for candidates interested in taking over his seat has been extended to May 6. 

Applications may be emailed to the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction at dpipa@nd.gov or sent by mail to the NDDPI at 600 E. Boulevard Ave., Dept. 201, Bismarck, ND, 58505.

Candidates must fill out a one-page application and supply a resume and no more than six letters of reference. They must have lived in North Dakota for the previous five years. They may not have been employed or paid by the North Dakota University System within the last two years.

Because there are already two North Dakota State University alumni on the board, bachelor’s degree holders from NDSU are not eligible to apply. 

Applicants are screened by the Department of Public Instruction and the board member is appointed by the governor. 

Importance of Tenure LRSC, WSC, DCB, NDSCS.docx

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