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Thursday, 5/1/97 Tenure troubles, low pay drive off UCLA faculty Outdated process could be making public schools lose out to private universities

By Hala Ali Daily Bruin Contributor The tenure process of the UC system may be sending valuable professors to other universities. Many people are beginning to complain that the tenure system at the UC schools has become dated and is against the best interest of the schools. The process of receiving tenure at UCs is a long-winded one, involving reviews by several committees, fellow faculty, and specific departments. Often a professor will be waiting to hear from UCLA, and in the meantime, receive offers from other universities, usually private schools with better offers. "Private systems don't have all these checks and balances," said Eric Gans, a tenured French professor at UCLA and member of the Privilege and Tenure Committee of the Academic Senate."Since (the UC system) is so sluggish and slow, people keep waiting." According to Jeffrey Friedan, an economics professor who left UCLA for Harvard in 1995, the whole process takes from one-and-a-half to two years. "It's very frustrating," said Gans, "in some cases, it has to go all the way up to Oakland." Russel Thornton, a UCLA anthropology professor, agreed. "Better people aren't going to mess around," said Russel Thornton, who is also a member of the Privilege and Tenure Committee of the Academic Senate. UCLA also loses some of its faculty because of its inability to compete with the salaries and benefits offered by private institutions. One of the reasons for this is simply that UCLA, like many other public schools lacks, the financial resources available to private schools. According to the March 1996 issue of "Academe," the relative pay in public institutions today has fallen more than 15 percent compared to private independent institutions. "Private salaries are going up much faster and UCLA is pegged in the middle," said Donkin Mellencamp, chair of the UC-wide State Academic Senate. "It is becoming tougher to compete." Unlike private schools that bid for professors with perks like subsidized housing and admissions preference and subsidized tuition for their children, UCLA has a uniform set of benefits offered to its tenure professors. Although many faculty agree that UCLA does offer good benefits, problems arise with issues such as the high cost of living in Los Angeles and the problems with the quality of education in the LA school district. Many private schools are not only located in areas in which housing costs are reasonable, but they may also offer university housing. According to Friedan, Stanford has an extremely generous housing program and the University of Michigan covers one-third to one-fourth of a professor's housing. "The public school system in the northern suburbs of Chicago is much better than LA," said Michael Wallerstein, a political science professor who left UCLA for Northwestern University in 1995. He cites the quality of teaching, the amount of money per child, and the size of classrooms as the main factors that enable Chicago public schools to provide a better quality education. Although problems exist with the tenure system at UC schools, many say that it is tenure in general that needs some alterations. "The tenure system is unfair because the number of Ph.D.s being granted right now far exceeds the (potential) tenure positions that are available," said Karl Rosenquist, a former English lecturer at UCLA. Rosenquist claims that Ph.D. students pursue the degree with the belief that teaching positions are abundant. "The number of people being enrolled in Ph.D. programs should be cut in half; they shouldn't be lied to. To work that hard for little payoff is depressing." Although he admits that "the pressure to hire people of color and women in general is a good thing," Rosenquist claims that it does have a negative side effect on young, white males. He suggests that the older white males implementing this "quota game should see that promotions (of minorities and women) are made at their levels; they shouldn't take it out on younger white males." "In general, it's a political game played at the expense of new Ph.D.s." Many members of the academic community, mainly students, complain that tenure becomes problematic when professors get older and their quality of teaching sharply declines. Students spoke of problems such as learning outdated theories and having absent-minded professors. Although Gans acknowledges that "every department has people that are excellent and then flake after tenure," he argues that "you can't fire a professor for incompetence." Gans also says that there are still incentives to retain a high standard of teaching and research after receiving tenure. "Once you get tenure, it doesn't mean that you stop getting promotions." Philip Bonacich, a sociology professor and member of the Privilege and Tenure Committee at UCLA, feels that "tenure is misunderstood." "If people don't perform their functions, they can be fired," Bonacich said. Many students also claim that the problem lies in the large amount of emphasis placed on research, rather than on teaching. Students often feel that their professors are teaching not because they want to, but because they need resources to conduct their research. "Sometimes I feel that lectures my professors give are not focused and clear because they don't spend enough time preparing (them)," said Dalia Ibrahim, a first-year biology student. But Gans argues that "you can't maintain a department without research and most undergraduates can't judge (that) research." It is the protection of this research and the development of new theories and scientific discoveries that initiated tenure in the first place. One of the main reasons tenure was established was to protect the academic freedom of professors against those opposing their theories or their research. It makes it impossible to fire a professor for promoting research and study in controversial fields such as genetic engineering and animal experimentation. However, some professors, such as James Parry, associate vice chancellor of academic programs for the Florida Board of Regents, claim that provisions such as the First Amendment already offer protection against such threats. Another argument for tenure is that because it involves such a long probationary period prior to achieving tenure, it promotes a higher level of scientific research and scholarship. "Tenure works, it does protect academic freedom," said Bonacich, "it takes a long time to develop an idea." People also argue that without tenure, many people would not enter the academic profession. It's just a profound feature of the system itself, said Gans. In an interview with the journal "The Scientist," membrane biophysicist Arthur Sowers said "I think it's very sad to see highly dedicated individuals go into very, very specialized fields to study and spend 10 to 15 to 20 years of their life only to end up with a kick in the rear. Although there are many attacks on tenure, and more specifically, tenure at UC schools, UCLA has made some efforts to improve its tenure system and to retain and attract distinguished faculty. According to Mellencamp, the state budget has increased and faculty will receive a five-percent increase in their salaries if the budget goes through in October. UC schools utilize the average salary from a group of eight highly-ranked comparison schools and target its salaries at that average, Mellencamp said. This five-percent increase is intended to catch up to this average. "In the sciences and engineering, we now have to offer a large start-up amount," Mellencamp continued. He gave examples of benefits such as the furnishing of a lab, making accommodations to those trying to finish their post-doctoral degrees, loan programs, low-interest loans on housing, and on a number of campuses, faculty housing. Establishments such as the Seeds University Elementary School at UCLA are aimed at alleviating the problem of what is considered to be by some a poor quality of education in the L.A. area. UCs also try to attract faculty "by making adjustments and special arrangements to remain competitive," Mellencamp said, citing offers of summer salaries. "We try to be as creative as we can." UCLA has also made efforts in trying to deal with dual-career families. It sometimes tries to find positions at UCLA for spouses both in and out of the academic arena. According to Thornton, UCLA will often try to match offers that people receive from comparable institutions. However, "it depends on the circumstances, who they are, and where the job offer comes from," He said. "I was at Berkeley and they told me 'we'll match anything you get,'" Thornton said. Although many people feel that tenure does need some changes, most of the academic community agree that is an essential aspect of college teaching." "You're not going to have a good university without tenure," Thornton said.