Pointedly, they rejected a suggestion by the system's three university presidents to entertain the recommendations of professors themselves. It will surprise no one if these hand-picked authorities advise the board to cut out tenure altogether. Tenure is a generations-old mechanism that gives professors job security while protecting their scholarly inquiries from outside surveillance. In the case of a state system like Arizona's, it protects their academic freedom not only from punitive administrators, but also from meddling legislators and political appointees like the regents. It's no secret that political conservatives on the board, such as Gov. J. Fife Symington III appointee John Munger, would like to see tenure eliminated altogether.
Faculty needs to be motivated continuously to do a good job.
The rest of us work hard every day. The rest of us have no guarantees. Academic freedom, he insists, is irrelevant to the debate, arguing that it's protected by the courts. UA Provost Paul Sypherd has made a spirited public defense of tenure, on grounds that it's absolutely essential to academic freedom, courts or no courts, that it offers job security to professors in exchange for wages that are low relative to those of comparable professions, and that it ensures continuity of the institution. John Schwarz, a political science professor who heads the UA Faculty Senate, says Munger's indolent prof is a straw man.