Letter to lawmakers: Amend HR 424 to preserve tenure protections in our public colleges and universities
ACTION ALERT – Call the LRC Comment Line at (800) 372-7181 and leave a message for either (a) your House member or (b) all House members. Tell them to vote No on HB 424!
To The Honorable member name:
Dear Representative last name:
On Tuesday, February 23, House Bill 424 will come before the House. As this bill is currently written, full time higher education faculty can be given 4 -year or less contracts by their higher education employer. Or faculty can be given 6 -year contracts in lieu of tenure. Regardless of contract length, all faculty must meet performance review standards. The language stating “in lieu of tenure” eliminates tenure in all state supported colleges and universities in Kentucky. This is the opinion of two firms, a labor law firm in Kentucky and a legislative law firm in Washington DC.
Tenure has been considered a “job for life” by many people and hence, many people do not understand the unintended repercussions of adopting a bill that eliminates tenure. Ending the possibility for tenure for faculty in Kentucky will do the following:
1. Reduce Kentucky’s ability to hire the best and brightest higher education teachers. Teachers will choose Indiana University, Purdue, Ohio State to name a few where tenure is available.
2. Medical, science, and academic research grants for will dry up at the University of Louisville, the University of Kentucky, and the regional universities. Millions of dollars pours into the state from these grants. Many are private grants and both federal and private grant donors will NOT invest money in a higher education institution when they are not assured that the researchers have stable positions.
3. Tenure ensures First Amendment rights to professors.
4. The idea that tenure is a job for life is a myth. This bill does list reasons why higher education faculty can lose their positions. Currently in Kentucky all faculty, including tenured faculty, are evaluated by Performance Review Standards. Tenured faculty do lose their positions due to those reasons.
We ask that an amendment be added to this bill that reads as follows:
Kentucky state supported higher education institutions may give tenure to faculty if those faculty have, after 6 years, met the higher education institutions’ performance standards. After tenure is granted, Kentucky higher education institutions will still require tenured faculty to undergo Performance Evaluations and meet the institutions’ performance standards.
Very Respectfully,
Dr. Katy Varner, Executive Director - American Federation of Teachers (AFT), KY 1360
and my colleagues from
American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Kentucky
Coalition of Faculty Senate Leadership (COSFL), Kentucky
United Campus Workers of Kentucky (UCW)