Analysis Of The Faulty Lounges

Throughout the history of higher education, the amount of freedom given to professors has remained largely debated. On one side, professors need the freedom to teach the material the care about and believe in, as to enhance the class itself and be a more engaging teacher. Furthermore, they need to have some freedom within their research projects to allow for discoveries and new ideas that may benefit society as a whole, no matter how controversial they once appear. However, problems occur when controversial issues arise within the classroom, or when professors become offensive or discriminatory against their students with no repercussions. As more people believed professors needed to have job protection so they were able to attempt more cutting-edge

Within research projects, professors do need job security in order to take on topics that the institution may find controversial. According to Naomi Schaeffer Riley, author of The Faulty Lounges, one of the main reasons tenure exists stems from the belief that professors, as experts in their field, should have protection from being challenged about their research by the general public. Because most people do not have the same amount of knowledge within a professor’s field, the professor shouldn’t be held back by the public’s disapproval of a topic when doing research. A professor’s job is to “add to the general pool of knowledge available to mankind and use that knowledge to improve society” (Riley 24), and they cannot accomplish this if their research is limited to already widely accepted beliefs. Professors do require the protection tenure insures because “freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth” (1940 Statement of Principles). Professors cannot make ground-breaking discoveries, or push for a more advanced society if they are limited by what is already deemed acceptable, especially by people who are not as knowledgeable in the field as themselves. The freedom tenure gives to professors within their research is a necessary precaution, as it allows for professors to research important, controversial topics, that may lead to discoveries that improve society as a

Because tenure gives professors job security, some lose their motivation to fully prepare and be engaged with the students they teach. With so much emphasis on research within universities, tenured professors can fall behind on the teaching part of their job. As more colleges students were bringing up concerns about their tenured professors, many of whom were highly celebrated within the academic world, Northwestern University conducted a study on whether tenured or non-tenured professors had better results teaching their students. While researching this issue, they found “consistent evidence that students learn relatively more from non-tenure line professors” (Figlio). Tenure too often serves not to protect the academic freedom of a professor, however, protects professors who are inadequately teaching their