Instructor Tenure Project

RESOLUTION: The Boulder Faculty Assembly Resolves that the Board of Regents Should Create a System for Instructor Tenure at the University of Colorado at Boulder
Read the RESOLUTION here >>
Read a PDF of the FAQs here >>

The Problem and Solution to Contingency at the University of Colorado - January 19, 2007
Reliable information regarding the numbers and professional circumstances of contingentfaculty at the University of Colorado has, over the past thirty years, been obscured by a proliferation of titles—lecturers, adjuncts, instructors, senior instructors, and visitingassistant professors—with varying corresponding lengths of contracted employment, and varying responsibilities. One thing they have in common is that all of them serve as at-will employees whose contracts can be terminated at any time without cause. Download entire document >>

Resolution of the Association of Teaching Faculty at CU to Implement an Instructor Tenure System at the University of Colorado
WHEREAS contingent faculty teach the majority of classes at CU Boulder,* and WHEREAS the at-will status of these faculty members diminishes their academic freedom and access to the due process necessary to achieve their potential level of excellence in the classroom and in institutional affairs, and WHEREAS Colorado state laws assert that faculty at CU must, with extremely few exceptions, be either at-will or tenured, and WHEREAS Colorado state laws do not prohibit tenure for instructors... Download entire document>>

Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure
The Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure set forth, in language suitable for use by an institution of higher education, rules that derive from the chief provisions and interpretations of the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure and of the 1958 Statement on Procedural Standards in Faculty Dismissal Proceedings. The Recommended Institutional Regulations were first formulated by Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure in 1957. A revised and expanded text, approved by Committee A in 1968, reflected the development of Association standards and procedures. Texts with further revisions were approved by Committee A in 1972, in 1976, in 1982, in 1990, in 1999, in 2005, and in 2006. Download entire document >>

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding the Implementation of the AAUP's "Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure" for Instructors at the University of Colorado
1. What is the basic plan?
Instructors who have completed a probationary period not to exceed seven years must be offered permanent employment, after undergoing a final review similar to previous reviews.

2. Should we call "instructor tenure" something else, so as not to confuse it with "professor tenure,"or arouse animosities of politicians opposed to tenure altogether or of tenured faculty who are possessive of the term?
According to state law, CU faculty (with very few exceptions) must fall into one of two categories: "tenured" or "at-will." To call it something other than "tenure" will require changing state law, anendeavor that will likely stop the movement in its tracks. We make every effort to refer consistently to tenure for teaching faculty as "instructor tenure" in order to distinguish it from"professor tenure." Download entire document >>

ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND INSTRUCTOR TENURE:YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER by Suzanne Hudson - April 19, 2007
Good evening, and thank you all for taking time out from your busyschedules to attend this meeting. And thank you to the AAUP for dedicating its April meeting to the crucially important issue of instructor tenure. I'd like tointroduce Marki LeCompte, a tenured professor in the School of Education and president of the CU chapter of the American Association of UniversityProfessors, Vijay Gupta, a tenured professor in the College of Engineering and vice president of the local AAUP, Ken Bonetti, an advisor in the EconomicsDepartment and member of the AAUP's local executive committee, and Don Eron, senior instructor in the Program for Writing and Rhetoric, treasurer of thelocal AAUP, and my partner in this effort to persuade the University of Colorado to implement a tenure system for instructors. Download entire document >>

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