ATLANTA (CBS46) — Georgia professors are protesting a controversial policy change that was recently approved this week by The Board of Regents.
Professors said it would give administrators more power to terminate tenured faculty.
CBS46 spoke to professors from Georgia and The American Association of Universities about how this change could affect students and teachers across the state.
Professors we spoke to said this change essentially eliminates the concept of tenure, which gives professors academic freedom and makes it harder for them to be fired.
However, both The Board of Regents and the University System of Georgia said the change helps maintain professor performance.
“My initial reactions to the change are really disappointment and embarrassment,” said Tim Heiden, a professor at Kennesaw State Conflict Management.
The Board of Regents, the body that governs 25 public colleges and universities in Georgia, voted to add a new layer to the post-tenure review process for professors like Haydn.
“It’s really a loss for Georgia,” Heiden said, adding that losing his tenured position would not only be a loss for professors like him, it could be a loss for Georgia students as a whole.
“Students can only learn broadly and deeply if information is allowed to take us anywhere. Limiting tenure is taking away the ability to ask really difficult questions.”
Their tenured position provides them with a layer of job security and allows them to conduct cutting-edge research studies to integrate into society and their classroom.
Heiden said this new policy could change all that now.
“The board of regents fundamentally changed those policies to take away the authority from professors,” said Matthew Boedy, president of the Georgia conference of the American Association of University Professors.
The Board of Regents said the updated policy supports career development for all faculty, ensuring accountability and strong exposure among experienced professors.
“We already do reviews every year,” Bodie said.
Boedy and The American Association of University professors are now threatening to condemn the entire university system in light of the change, Boedy said, which would make it harder for the state to recruit skilled professors.
Boedy also said that the policy would threaten academic freedom for professors during their research.
“They rarely condemn the system and it’s going to be a big black eye for the university system.”
More than a thousand professors from across the state have also now signed a petition against this change and they are expected that the board will now reconsider its changes in the post-tenure review process.
“Because, it signals that we don’t really value innovation or creativity for the benefit of our students, part of our faculty, and our communities,” Heiden said.
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