“In a normal year, 10 to 20 percent of faculty up for tenure are denied,” said James A. Castiglione, an associate professor of physics and president of the union, the Kean Federation of Teachers. “What’s happening this year is an acceleration of the trend to undermine tenure at the university.”
Mr. Castiglione said the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty members at Kean had declined by about a quarter since 2004, to 300 this year from a high of around 400 a decade ago. Over the same period, he said, the number of adjuncts—who are allowed to teach up to two classes each per semester—has grown to nearly 1,000 from 400.
Unspecified Faults
In October the university’s provost recommended that the university turn down all but one of the nine professors who made tenure bids this year, said Mr. Castiglione. In the recommendation the president is expected to make to the board, said Mr. Castiglione, Mr. Farahi will reverse two of those negative decisions.
Mr. Castiglione would not identify the professors by name but said the three whose tenure the president will recommend approving teach in counselor education, in educational leadership, and in the doctoral psychology program. Of the six the president says should be denied, two are in the sciences, and one each are in education, English, theater, and undergraduate psychology, said Mr. Castiglione.
More>> (requires subscription)
