The discussion was prompted by the changes in regulations concerning tenure proposed by the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota. At the conclusion of the discussion, the ACLS Board unanimously approved the Resolution below. We will continue to follow the situation with interest and concern. The concept of tenure evolved in response to the perceived need to protect the intellectual freedom of professors in the classroom in their writing and thinking. That need still exists.
Thinkers have to think.
We strongly urge the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota to hold to that standard and to refrain from adopting the proposed revisions in their current defective form. Several of them clearly violate the AAUP's long-standing policies and run counter to sound and widely accepted personnel practices.