by Al Greenwood
Senior Staff Writer
The University of Houston Faculty Senate has moved the date of its next meeting forward one week to May 7 so it could snatch professors before they leave the campus and lose their last chance to discuss post-tenure review.
In post-tenure review, a board judges tenured faculty based on scholarship, research and service. The board may then revoke the professor's tenure.
Several professors have come out against post-tenure review, stating that it will restrict academic freedom. Concerns include that of a review board having the ability to revoke a faculty member's tenure if he or she gave a controversial lecture or questioned an administrator.
The meeting will still start at 12:15 p.m. in the Kiva Room at Farish Hall. However, the meeting will be on May 7, not May 14.
The Senate moved the date because by May 14 most final exams will have ended, and professors will have left campus for the summer, Faculty Senator Ernst Leiss said.
"My working assumption is that we will have a post-tenure review procedure," said Robert Palmer, Faculty Senate president-elect. If they hold the meeting May 14, "We would be forced into making a post-tenure review procedure during the summer. You're asking us to do something extremely important during the summer. We must do it now."
The post-tenure review bill swept through the Texas Senate Feb. 25, in a 29-1 vote. The House Higher Education Committee should vote on the bill today. If it passes, the Texas House of Representatives will vote on the bill. If it passes there, then Gov. George W. Bush could approve or veto the bill.
The Legislature must send the bill to Bush by June 2, the last day of the state legislative session.
Representative Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) is sponsoring the bill.
"Basically, Representative Cuellar is looking to get Senate Bill 149 to pass through the House," Faculty Senate President Angi Patton said.
Since leaving the Senate, legislators have changed the bill to gather more votes in the house, Faculty Senator Karl Ittmann said.
For example, the bill does not list "unsatisfactory performance" as grounds for revoking tenure.
"'Unsatisfactory' just doesn't seem to be grounds for termination," Patton said.
A rider may also be proposed that would prevent any institution from spending any funds until it develops a post-tenure review policy, Patton explained.
Besides discussing these legislative changes, Ittmann said he will probably present a UH post-tenure review draft in the May 7 meeting.
"I think we have to be ready to be accountable to the public," said Arthur Smith, the UH System chancellor and UH president. "We are a public university. We should justify what it is we're doing with the public dollar."
According to an economic impact report by former provost John Ivancevich, UH receives almost 43 percent of its revenue from state appropriations. Almost 20 percent comes from tuition and fees.
"I think it's a good idea, said Thong Phan, a senior biology major. "I think everyone should be accountable for what they do." However, he added, the review board should include students. If a review board was compromising a professor's academic freedom, Phan said, a student could keep the board from wrongfully revoking .
While freshman music major Chris Johnson said tenured faculty need periodic reviews, he said, "One of the things I've found most rewarding was finding a professor who wasn't spoon-fed."