Letter to the Editor

The general public sometimes seems immune to the issues facing our higher education institutions.  Evidently, we have heard of  (and still regret ) the soaring costs of a university degree for the students, the insufficient funds to maintain much needed programs for anglophones and francophones alike and the lack of research money for the professors.  One subject seems to come back and “bite us on the foot “ regularly: the fact that university teachers have job security known as tenure.   As a university teacher, I would like to point out my view on the question.

Tenure is the guarantee that full-time professors can teach and do their research without fear of reprisal in areas and ideas that might be unpopular with the various forms of institutional power that define our intellectual sphere.  This means that if a researcher in one of our universities wants to work on a project that isn’t in the best interest of the administrators or the reigning political party, he or she has the necessary job security to complete and publish the study.  Imagine a world of academia where professors are forced to do research that only shows the world as a bright crystal ball in which everything is marvellous and reflects the very same philosophy as that of our administrators!  When you think about it, it wouldn’t even be an interesting place to be!

Tenured teachers and librarians are in a position to benefit society by advancing views that might incidentally annoy politicians, dismay university administrators and even outrage media pundits.  Is it not in the public interest that one group have the ability to stand up to the powerful without job retaliation?  Shouldn’t more groups have that possibility?  Think of our newspaper reporters.  Aren’t they supposed to analyse and publish their findings without fear of reprisal?  I only hope they feel that they can do that!

Let’s suppose the province decided to abolish tenure, that professors could be dismissed easily for saying the truth as they see it.  New Brunswick universities would attract only those teachers and researchers who could not secure jobs elsewhere and soon our graduates would have degrees that lacked credibility.  The quality of higher education in our province would slide downwards without a chance of recovering.

Linda Lequin

President

Federation of New Brunswick Faculty Associations