University of Colorado at Denver professors questioned Tuesday why a year-long study of tenure did not address the costs and extra faculty workload of reform.
The report, released last week, said CU should strengthen reviews of faculty who have the lifetime employment protection and make it easier to pull bad professors out of the classroom.
It included 39 recommendations to improve the tenure process, including a review of tenure criteria every seven years and a random audit of tenure case files every five years.
The CU-Denver faculty assembly said in a collective statement the changes would require “significant investments in time, training, staff support and record-keeping.”
Some professors said they worry the public is expecting major changes to CU’s tenure process but that the university does not have the money to implement them.
“I’m looking for something that tells the public this doesn’t come free,” business history professor Pamela Laird said. “Otherwise it’s an unfunded mandate.”
Gen. Howell Estes III, a retired U.S. Air Force general who led the study, said it’s up to university regents whether to spend money on tenure reform.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
