Education Legislation

[Bbmaj7b5]

The Texas Senate is getting ready to vote on two bills that affect higher ed.

SB 1159 sets new standards for what constitutes faculty conduct subject to tenure revocation, and also reduces the post-tenure review interval from 6 years to 4 years.

SB 1623 states that a faculty member can lose tenure if they file a civil suit against a student enrolled at that institution. It is widely believed that this story was the impetus for the suit, but the bill is so generally written that all sorts of repercussions may manifest themselves. If a student gets mad at a grade I gave them, finds out my address, and damages my property, will I get fired if I file a suit for damages?

So whazzup in your respective states?

[Caracal]

The Texas Senate is getting ready to vote on two bills that affect higher ed.

SB 1159 sets new standards for what constitutes faculty conduct subject to tenure revocation, and also reduces the post-tenure review interval from 6 years to 4 years.

SB 1623 states that a faculty member can lose tenure if they file a civil suit against a student enrolled at that institution. It is widely believed that this story was the impetus for the suit, but the bill is so generally written that all sorts of repercussions may manifest themselves. If a student gets mad at a grade I gave them, finds out my address, and damages my property, will I get fired if I file a suit for damages?

So whazzup in your respective states?

In theory, the first bill doesn't really change anything. Presumably tenured professors can already be fired if they are are grossly incompetent, fail to do their job, engage in academic misconduct or sexually harass students. In practice, I'd be pretty wary of the intent.

[Mobius]

I'd assume the second Texas bill would be unconstitutional. You can't punish people for excersing their legal rights.

[Bbmaj7b5]

The Texas Senate is getting ready to vote on two bills that affect higher ed.

SB 1159 sets new standards for what constitutes faculty conduct subject to tenure revocation, and also reduces the post-tenure review interval from 6 years to 4 years.

SB 1623 states that a faculty member can lose tenure if they file a civil suit against a student enrolled at that institution. It is widely believed that this story was the impetus for the suit, but the bill is so generally written that all sorts of repercussions may manifest themselves. If a student gets mad at a grade I gave them, finds out my address, and damages my property, will I get fired if I file a suit for damages?

So whazzup in your respective states?

In theory, the first bill doesn't really change anything. Presumably tenured professors can already be fired if they are are grossly incompetent, fail to do their job, engage in academic misconduct or sexually harass students. In practice, I'd be pretty wary of the intent.

Post tenure review is ok in sane departments and a nightmare in bad ones - and that's because if a judgment is bad enough to require adjudication at the college, you might as well pack your bags. Imagine a legal system that is either exoneration or death penalty.

The reduction to 4 years can be bad at an R1 like mine because that is the typical grant life cycle. Three years to do the work, one year to write it up, oh look, should have gotten that article out earlier but I couldn't because I was actually doing the work, and now it's post-tenure review.