Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The End of Tenure?   [John J. Miller]

The American Federation of Teachers has put out a new report on the higher-ed workforce. Major findings:

• The number of full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members declined from approximately one-third of the instructional staff in 1997 to just over one-quarter in 2007.
• The increased reliance on contingent faculty and instructors is manifested in all sectors of higher education, although the mix varies by institutional type.
• Even if we focus just on full-time faculty positions, the trend toward hiring off the tenure track prevails.
• The number of noninstructional staff grew by 24 percent from 1997-2007, with the most significant growth in the category of professional staff, which increased by 50 percent.
• The number of administrators, the majority of whom were full time, also increased by a substantial percentage.

My quick take: The decline of tenure is good, the rise of administrative bureaucracy is bad.

05/12 08:29 AMShare