Deans Host Tenure Discussion For Students

By Jay Antenen
Staff Writer

Dean of the College Gary Kates and Dean of Students Anne Quinley met with students on Tuesday to discuss Pomona College's policies on tenure and the hiring of professors.

The hour-long lunch meeting organized by ASPC Academic Affairs Commissioner Kyle Warneck attracted a small audience of mainly upperclassmen to the Frank Blue Room.

Kates said that tenure decisions are made behind closed doors, and when decisions leak out many students are left confused. Often students do not understand why the decision was made. The meeting, he said, was designed to explain how those decisions are reached.

Kates began the meeting by describing the stages a professor goes through to receive tenure.

Most professors begin their careers as Instructors. Instructors are part time or replacement professors hired on a short term basis to fill an immediate need. Instructors are typically PhD students who have done “all but dissertation” (ABD). They are still as much as a year away from getting their PhD. Instructors are not eligible for tenure. When they have completed their PhD, they are promoted to visiting professors, but are still not eligible for tenure.

When a professor with a PhD is hired into a tenure-track position they are given the title of Assistant professor. Assistant professors are given three-year contracts. During the third year they are reviewed by the Faculty Personnel Committee to determine whether their level of teaching is up to Pomona’s standards. If approved an Assistant spends his or her fourth year on leave doing research.

In their sixth year, Assistant professors come up for tenure review and promotion to associate professor. If the faculty member passes the review, he or she is promoted to associate and become tenured. If he or she does not pass, the faculty member must leave the college. After eight more years, a professor is invited to apply to become a full professor.

The FPC, the Board of Trustees, and the President of the College all must approve tenure decisions. A special subcommittee of the FPC is created for each professor's review and gives a recommendation to the FPC. The FPC then advises the Board and the President.

Kates and Quinley said the college has rigorous requirements for professors to become tenured. "We expect the professor to be outstanding in the classroom and make a notable contribution to his field," Kates said.

According to Kates, a professor may not receive tenure for three reasons. He may be a poor teacher, has not produced a high quality and quantity of research, and in rare circumstances, is not accessible enough to students and other faculty.

Quinley said students play a large part in determining if a professor is a good teacher. When a professor is up for tenure, the College sends letters asking for feedback to students who have had the professor. The letters are then placed in a file as the principle evidence of teaching quality.

"Every word is scrutinized by the tenure committee," Quinley said. "If there are holes, the professor must prove she has addressed the problem."

Professors who need to improve their teaching have several options open to them. The College operates the Teaching and Learning Center at Smith Campus Center, and pairs each new professor with a faculty mentor.

In the past, the TLC has hosted discussions on student evaluations, syllabus writing and lectureless teaching. The TLC's website says the center "promotes awareness and self-consciousness about pedagogy through creative programming and social interaction [that] will help the faculty remain self-conscious about its defining task in an institution where good teaching runs the risk of being taken for granted."

In addition, a former Harvey Mudd professor works as a teaching consultant for Pomona. He attends professor’s classes and offers confidential advice. Quinley joked that the consultant is the faculty version of Monsour Counseling Center.

At the meeting, students questioned the reasons for tenure and why some underqualified professors had been given tenure.

Kates said tenure was originally created to protect academic freedom, but now it also serves other valuable purposes. "Faculty who get tenure start investing in Pomona," Kates said. "Pomona becomes their community. Without tenure they wouldn't feel like real members of the community."

The most sensitive period of a professors employment are the first years of the associate rank. Kates said often during this period a professor’s teaching level may go down due to personal or professional reasons. “Most professors are very good at continuing the scholarship that was suggested to them by their PhD advisor,” Kates said. “But when it comes time to come up with new research or teaching methods they hit a wall.”

Quinley explained, “Professors who may not have been superstars when they were given tenure, sometimes degrade further. People change. They may get bored or develop an outside interest.”

While a tenured professor can not be fired, Department Chairs, Deans, and the President have options available to encourage a professor to leave. Kates said the "carrot and stick" approach can be used through yearly pay raise evaluations. This past year, some professors did not receive a raise.

Disputes over the tenure process are rare at the College, and they usually end in the Colleges favor. In 1998, former Assistant Professor of Black Studies and Psychology Stanley Gaines claimed the College discriminated against him because of his race when it denied him tenure. The two-year dispute ended with Gaines leaving the College.

In 1992, the College was taken to court by former Assistant Professor of Russian Andrew Corin over a tenure dispute. Superior Court Judge William J. McVittie ordered the College to reconsider the decision to deny Corin tenure, but later advised both sides to enter mediation. Kates said Pomona recently won in mediation.

"Almost every professor who is on the tenure track receives tenure," Quinley said. "It's unusual and unhappy when someone does not receive tenure."