North Dakota State Board of Higher Education approves tenure for faculty at two-year colleges
Apr. 25—GRAND FORKS — State Board of Higher Education members moved to grant tenure to several candidates at two-year colleges despite a committee's attempts to delay those appointments.
Board members approved 12 tenure-track candidates from Lake Region State College, North Dakota State College of Science, Bismarck State College and Williston State College on Thursday, April 25, alongside candidates from four-year colleges in the North Dakota University System.
That was in spite of a move by the Academic and Student Affairs Committee meeting last week that initially delayed the two-year candidates from advancing to the full board.
Board member Kevin Black has questioned whether faculty teaching technical education courses meet the NDUS's tenure policy's stated goal of upholding academic freedom.
Tenure usually requires teaching at an institution for six years and is generally reserved for full-time faculty.
"Whether these candidates cover controversial topics or not, if they've met their six years, we rubber-stamp it, we move on," he said.
Black used procedural moves to block board member Casey Ryan's initial motion to approve all tenure candidates, including those at two-year colleges.
Ryan was backed by board member Danita Bye, who said she supported further examination of the university system's tenure policies (an ad-hoc committee is currently doing just that) but said it would be unfair to change the rules for the current candidates, who have been recommended for approval by both the institution's president and Chancellor Mark Hagerott.
"We need to honor the rules of engagement we have held up to this point," she said.
Board member John Warford, who chairs Academic and Student Affairs and initially joined Black for the 4-0 vote to hold up tenure approval for the two-year college candidates, said he'd changed his stance after speaking with a couple of college presidents.
"All of our candidates, including the two-years, have been vetted with our current policies," he said. "We're changing the rules of the game in the middle of the game."
Black moved to approve the four-year college candidates, but his appeal to block Ryan's subsequent amendment adding the two-year college candidates to that motion failed.
Black ultimately voted in favor of the amended motion granting tenure to all four- and two-year college candidates.
Board members Jeffrey Volk and Curtis Biller voted against both the amendment and final vote.
Twenty-nine percent of NDUS faculty were tenured in the 2023-24 academic year with another 11% in tenure-track roles. That's down from 32% tenured and 13% tenure-track in 2019-20.
The number of candidates up for tenure has also decreased over the same period, with 48 candidates up for tenure as opposed to 66 candidates four years ago.
North Dakota State University and the University of North Dakota nominated the most candidates this year, with 16 and 7 candidates, respectively; all other colleges nominated four or fewer candidates.
Lawmakers considered a bill during the 2023 legislative session that would have made it easier for university presidents to remove tenured faculty at Dickinson State University and Bismarck State College.
In other news, Warford has not applied to continue serving on the State Board of Higher Education after his term ends in June. Hagerott said the governor has extended the application period for prospective board members to May 6.
