ATLANTA – A national organization representing university professors has voted to censure the University System of Georgia (USG) over changes in post-tenure policies.
The system’s Board of Regents voted last October to replace a system that permitted tenured professors to be fired only for a specific cause following a peer review with a system that allows dismissal if they fail to take corrective steps following two consecutive subpar reviews.
The century-old American Association of University Professors released a report in December calling the new policy an attack on academic freedom for allowing tenured professors to be fired without a dismissal hearing.
“The removal of protections for academic freedom will have a devastating effect on the quality of education in the USG system, and on recruitment and retention of faculty and students,” association President Irene Mulvey said. “We call upon the USG regents to rescind the changes to the post-tenure review policy so that academic freedom, so essential for higher education, is restored.”
After the October vote, the regents explained the goal of the changes was to ensure faculty members continue to do their jobs well after they have received tenure.
“While we’re disappointed the American Association of University Professors chose to ignore USG’s long- standing commitment to academic freedom and due process, we remain dedicated to working with faculty at our public colleges and universities to make sure post-tenure review strengthens accountability and rewards the work faculty already do to empower student success in the 21st century,” system officials wrote in a prepared statement after Saturday’s censure vote.
The new policy will apply to all 26 of the system’s colleges and universities except Georgia Gwinnett College. The changes emerged from the recommendations of a working group formed in September of 2020.
The new policy will be fully implemented by this summer, according to the system’s website, with standards that will include “appropriate due process mechanisms.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.