Tenure in North Dakota
I would like to address recent concerns raised by the State Board of Higher Education regarding tenure and academic freedom. Academic freedom allows our campuses to thrive as centers for free thought and expression, to pursue and debate conflicting ideas openly, and to give students and faculty opportunities to engage in innovative research and scholarship.
Tenure in North Dakota is only granted after a lengthy vetting process following six years of dedicated service. It is a recognition of the contributions a professor has made to support their students and their school’s mission, and it provides reasonable protections from censorship or discipline in their research and instructional endeavors. If a tenured professor stops doing their job or teaches in a program that no longer meets student demands, they are not untouchable; current policies allow for discipline and termination.
Our state is facing a skilled workforce shortage, and we cannot adequately fill critical positions in healthcare, agriculture, energy, and cybersecurity without having top notch faculty to prepare those workers. Reasonable tenure policies attract these faculty by telling them we value their careers and trust their expertise. When we invest in them, they invest in us—our students, our communities, our prosperity.
Tenure supports our communities. Our farmers rely on the research and instruction from tenured faculty to make informed decisions on issues like notill agriculture, organic farming, and the use of GMOs. Our hospital patients deserve the quality care that comes from nurses trained by tenured faculty invested in our healthcare system. In so many ways, we have tenured faculty to thank for the essential services holding our communities together. Along with all other public employees, we are grateful for the work they do to provide the vital public services North Dakotans depend on and deserve.
Tenure is essential to promoting academic freedom in research and education. Restricting tenure at community colleges and universities would be devastating to our economy and the future of our great state.