Other Considerations
Even if the personal qualifications for tenure are met, departments and the school reserve the right to withhold tenure to meet certain special goals.
- It is considered undesirable for too great a proportion of a department's faculty to be tenured. A "tenured-in" department often loses the capacity to recruit younger faculty and experiences a gradual decline in quality. In addition, a department may lack the stable funding necessary to support a tenured position. The department may therefore impose special rules to limit the tenured positions to a fixed number or a fixed percentage.
If departments choose such a policy, it is necessary to inform all pre-tenured faculty members of the rules well in advance of the mandatory decisions. Such rules are not to be formulated in the context of specific cases. - Departments and the school must have the flexibility to alter and maintain their programs. Thus, it is possible that some individuals may meet the guidelines for promotion and tenure but still lack a role in department programs. Departments should identify such problems as soon as possible and try to offer individuals the opportunity to change their direction in order to fill departmental needs.
