Lecturer Fitzgibbon comments on faculty tenure system...

Crain's Detroit Business

"Tension over tenure"

by Dustin Walsh

Jane Fitzgibbon, a full-time lecturer for business communication at Wayne State University, prefers existing outside the tenure system. "Tenure has outlived its usefulness," Fitzgibbon said. "The good professors will rise to the top without tenure. ... It's not a question of students getting value for their money, it's about performance." Nationally and in Michigan, tenured and tenure-track instructors are on the decline. Institutions increasingly rely on part-time adjuncts and full-time nontenured faculty as budget pressures mount. At the state's 15 public universities, the number of tenured and tenure-track instructors dropped to 38.6 percent in 2009 from 43.6 percent in 2001. The Michigan American Federation of Teachers (AFT) said it supports preserving the tenure system at Michigan universities -- even though more nontenured faculty means more prospective union members. It is noted that the Michigan AFT represents nontenured faculty at Wayne State; Eastern Michigan University; UM's campuses in Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint; MSU; Western Michigan University; Central Michigan University and Ferris State University. AFT also represents some tenured faculty at WSU and some community colleges.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110605/SUB01/306059965/tension-over-tenure