At a listening session on tenure policy Thursday, University of Wisconsin’s ad hoc committee for tenure discussed their draft proposal of future tenure policy in the UW System.

This was the final of three UW tenure policy hearings this week. The discussion largely revolved around Act 55, a part of the state budget including 135 non-budget items, according to an article on Crain’s Chicago Business.

Dorothy Farrar-Edwards, chair of the ad hoc committee, said before Gov. Scott Walker signed the state budget in July and enabled Act 55, university faculty could only be laid off under two circumstances: misconduct and campus wide financial emergency. Since Act 55, she said, the university can lay off faculty based on “program discontinuance, curtailment and modification or redirection,” which makes it easier for UW to discharge faculty.

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Many professors at the hearing said the act is a violation of their rights and the proposed tenure policy does not adhere to the standards prior to Act 55, or those of the American Association of University Professors, an organization for academic freedom, shared governance and economic security of faculty.

According to David Vanness, AAUP Madison chapter president, the organization has been involved with the review process actively, trying to make sure standards are met.

The national chapter of AAUP also extensively reviewed the University of Michigan’s tenure policy, Vanness added, because Regent John Behling, chair of the tenure task force, and UW System President Ray Cross have intentions to model the UW System’s tenure policy based on Michigan’s policy.

The policy change is a big deal for the UW System because it affects teacher retention and recruitment, Farrar-Edwards said, and that’s why the task force is moving fast and firmly to fix the problem, since the season of new teacher recruitment is fast approaching.

“Many, many faculty in this university have opportunities every day to go someplace else, and they’re here because they want to be here and they choose to stay here,” Farrar-Edwards said. “It also affects our ability to recruit really wonderful new faculty because why would they come to a place where they’re not sure they’re gonna have a job?”

After this hearing, the Faculty Senate will review and modify the future tenure policy draft Monday and send it back to the university committee. The committee will then write a second draft and distribute it among faculty.

In the end, the Senate will vote and send the approved draft to the Board of Regents for a final decision on the UW System’s post-Act 55 tenure policy.