The Cadre, Feb. 25, 1975, page 20‘

Students Want More

This year I had the dubious

honour of being the only studeht on the Tenure Comm- ittee. As the system is now the composition of this committee includes the 3 academic deans, five prof— essors and one student. Pro— fs up for tenure are judged on their research, teaching ability & community involve- ment (which also includes campus involvement).

Much emphasis was put on‘ the student evaluation forms.

Personally I didn't take a lot of pass of them. From

experience those forms were passed out just before the end of the term when the students were not in a frame of mind to fill them out objectively (even if the forms were any good). Secon- dly the forms were passed

in to the Prof and I had

two objections there.(1)

If the class was small a student might feel that

the Prof would recognize

wthe handwriting and any

derogatdryg coments would not be appreciated at this part of the term when all tempers are short. (2) The Prof has the chance of

we ing out the papers. By t'fis I mean, He(she) could take out the forms wich were not complimentary, and no

one would know the difference.

This year the Aims & Obje- ctives committee have had a number of meetings for

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_students. At all of them one of the'main issues that came up was tenure. Most people felt that it should be abolished & a system of contracts be set up instead. A comprimise was suggested since it would be very

’ difficult to abolish tenure.

It was agreed that the composition of the tenure‘ committee is very important

' and if there was more stud-

ent representation the inte— rest of the student would be served better. The figure of four students and five faculty was suggested as more‘representative.'

I think that the faculty recognizes the problems involved with the evaluation forms and turns to the lbne student rep. on the commit—

tee for more precise inform-l

ation about what the studen- ts think of a particular Prof. In talking with stude- nts who served on the tenure committee in the past they had the same feelings. They felt that they were represe— nting 1400 people and had

to answer to them. It is impossible for one person

to do this on such an impor- tant question as tenure. As an arts student there is

(no way that I could underst—

and a chemistry thesis. A' science student would at least recognize the termin—

olagy. v

Another point I would like,

- well} didn’t think '1!- possible but, students do have 3 Me bf“! on .kenurecoamfiuees.

/ Say In

to make is the attitude towards tenure I feel that tenure is apriviIedgeof a faculty member, not a right. A person is granted a posit— ion from which he can be removed by "just cause". I wouldn't want to try & define "just cause". This is the place where academic _freedom comes up Profs have -a valid point when they insist that they be allowed to carry on their research and conduct their clases in whatever manner they want without risking their jobs: But what also has to be Considered is the welfare of the student who, after

all is what the whole unive-

lrsity system is about.

A Prof who is granted tenure can just sit back, .use the same notes year af—

ter year and not bother with

research. The chances of getting him removed are not very likely.

Another recommendation

made by a number of students

was that periodically egyery

'Teilu‘i'é Decisions ‘

faculty member should be obliged to take a year off to catch up on the new deve— lopments in his field. This way they Would be able to put forward in their classes the latest information. Along with this it was suggested that it is unfair for a person who has been on leave for more than one year to apply for tenure the year he returns. He should be given an extra year. 7 ‘ Finally it was felt by a lot of students that there

vshould be some kind of prov—

isional system set up. If a Prof. seems to be lacking

in one or two areas the ten-

ure committee should have the authority to grant him tenure with provision that he improve. They could then take a second look at his performance the next year and make a judgement. As it is now if a Prof is not granted tenure he is dismiss- ed unless his appeal is

successfull. DONNA MCGAUGH

Student Roprosontation Increases: at U Of. T.

Last Oct. the governing council at U of T voted.for increased student represen— tation on body although it rejected a bid for parity with faculty. At present 8 students and 12 faCulty sit on the body. It was alSo decided that not only should the student - faculty por— portion be improved but a1- so that both should increa- se at the expense of the rest of Governing Council.

In the debate, Betty Ke- nnedy said "Although the paternal faculty—student relationship may have been adequate in the past, it is adequate no longer. By the- re very place in time stu- dents have a unique contri-

'parity.

bution to make. Or as the.. provost of Trinity College- said "since the implement— ation of policies requires students' coéoperation then it is only fair that stud- ents should have equal rep- resentation with faculty on the bodies that make the policies".

»Despite the improve- ment, U of T students have applied to the Ontario Government for full According to SAC "The issue is not dead". ‘In 1971, the pro— vincial government had promised the students a throughal review of the question. ,It looks prom- ising.