The legal significance of tenure is reviewed in this article as it relates to the new and developing laws of due process. The authors suggest that  expectancy of re-employment  may become a new form of property right

Hartung, A. Bruce

Mills, Joseph L.

Educational Considerations

English

Joseph L. Mills

A. Bruce Hartung

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Tenure and Due Process

Kansas State University

Educational Considerations Volume 2 Number 1 Article 5 9-1-1974 Tenure and Due Process Joseph L. Mills A. Bruce Hartung Follow this and additional works at: https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations  Part of the Higher Education Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Mills, Joseph L. and Hartung, A. Bruce (1974) "Tenure and Due Process," Educational Considerations: Vol. 2: No. 1. https://doi.org/10.4148/0146-9282.2130 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Considerations by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact cads@k-state.edu. Th"legol,igo;f;canceof 'OIMOisroview"din 'hi' article", ;t'cl",", to the new and developing laws of due pmc.,. The"",hoc>,u~~e51'hat "expectancv of ro_omploy",.,,!"m.y;''''Qme 0 "ew fOlmof propel'Y r;ghLI tenure anddue processby Joseph l. Mill. and A. B'"ce H.r!ung•I10<. io-IephL,Milt, i, p,",.ntl\' acadcmi' ue," at Ca>tonCollo"O,inNorthCarolina.II. receiY€dh;, Ph.(J,fromMiamiUni"",.'''y in 1~7U,He ai,,, S"'ve,., tho oditOr01Schoo!lawNOldo"",-Or. ,~ B,uce H"'llng is howl of the doporime"t ofma,hemaLic,al C,>too Collo"~ He received his [d.P_ fromP"ke Univo«;ly in 1%("EDI)(AT!ONIllCONSIJ)!RA TlONS, VuI.1,NQ,1 FIIlL, '1974rhe concept of "tenLJre"a, wo know it today has rout, thatdre centurie, old_ Simil", I"ivileges, such a, tax relief andpcr.lon~1protection, were extended to ,cholars", eJrly a, theMiddle .~g"s For example, the Holy Iloman EmperorFre(ferick I deuced in '1158 that ,cholar> in hi, domain,hould have sare con<luct, protenion from attack, andcompellsation for un lawfu! injurie>, Various king, Bnd churchI"nd",r, also bestowed faVOr<upon those of the academicCOml11unitI' for centurie,. Thus, over the centllr;es, tenure hoIWille to denute an ~mploymcnl security device under which(atulty members anain permanent ,tatLJ, within the in-stitution, ~hi recent year." tenure 'y'tems ilave been r"",,xamined andmor" thQugh( has been given to the concept of due process,Any iI1stitution concerned with it.Itenu,'" policy would be i11_Jdvi;eJ nut to give eqLJal attentiorl to it, due process~rocedures. AlthQ<Jghthe lwo concept, are elmely tied, thc,ignih~Jnce oi the COrleel)tof ten<Jre re~che, beyond lhe,Wu' itself and "tuue, to the procedure, under which the'''''UI i, wanted and/or removedVirtuolly oil of the recent Ga,e, of dismi"al or 110nrenewalof contracts which the SLJpremeCourt ha, co",idered havebeen founded on the firsl and Fourte€nth Amendment' toth" Constitution, The," read, in part, as foltows:__'mend,n.nt I(o,,"ross ,ha!1make 00 law ,.<pe<ting on e,,,bli,ilment of,eli.,ol', or prohib;tingLhe1"'0 """d", tho,,,,)!:or ab'idging'he freedom of ,peech,_A",."d",,,,,( XIV_No ""e shallmakeor c"fo"o a,,1'I,;wwhie" '"oil "b,idge'he D'i"iiege,or imm"nit;csof citizen, of .h. United State""0' ,h,,11any 51atedoprive any pcr;on 01 liio, liberty, Q'"'''''"''Y Wi'OOlllduo procossof I.v.',no, dr'"'' to a"y p.r,""within ," iud,diction 'he equal protection0; the t,,,",,_Before reviewing ,everal of the ,uit> which have beena(ljudiCOle<1recerltly, certain a,petb of (he,e Amendment'should be examined. Certainly, the freedom of speech clauseof the fir"t Amcndmcn( hos been critical, but require, noexplan,;jion, I-Iowever, the conceptI of "liberty" "Old"proµertv" mentioned in the Fourte€,uh Amendment 'houldb" inve"ig,1ted_ The lote iu'tice Felix Frankfurter once wrotethill liberlY and property are two great constituUonal con-ceµts left to gain mc,1ning from experierlce, Certainly,"Iiherty" me,1n, more than ju,t rreedom from bodily re"traint_I"eeoom lo enter into contract" freedom to choose one',occupation, freedom of movemcnt, and freedom to wor<hiµ1Mills and Hartung: Tenure and Due ProcessPublished by New Prairie Press, 2017a, '"~IIdenOH.,.1by tbe term "Iiberty," li kewi,e, the con~ept of"property" extend, to more than ju,t real e'tate. money ormo""ial guods_even lo the expectancy 0; ro-employmentI)istinct;on !TIU,tbe made betweerl the judiciol approache,to lenure in public nnd private imtitution' In the privaterCillm,tenure µIans are considered to be col1tranual. In case,whe,e the murts rlecree th"t tenure contract> have beenureeched 1lnd (inonc;,11award, are made, the'e award, willnot ordinarilv ue ilCWml,"n;ed by reinstatement order>because in the privote realm, Court> Jo not decree ,peeificµeriorrnance oi personal ,ervic~ contract>. However, tenurepl,", adopted by governing boords of I}ublic in,titution, are"dj"d~e{1(0 he;\ fmm of _Iublegislationand have the effect oflaw, I-Ierlce.lhe findi"€ that a tenure rlon ho' been breechedwill u,uallv be accompanied by an order to rdn,tate theoffe~ted inwuctm ,ince the Ji;charge would hove beenconsidered in violotion of statut,,_,_In reviewing the logic o( the Co"rt, two landmark ca,e,must be considered_ In one, David Roth was hired in 1968 forhis lirSt teaching job at the Unive"ity 0; Wi;con,in_O,hko,h. Rotlowo, given no form"1 contract although hi'notice of appoilltment was the equivalent of " contract_Regulation, ,'dopted by the Board 0; Regents required tlwtnon-tenured iaculty be nOl;tied 0" or before fr·,bruary 1 of,€\C"t;on or nometention for the coming year. Prior tofebru",,' -I, -I%Y,Roth wa, l10tified that hb contract wouldM' be r~llewed. He was given no reason for the deci,ion nor,"" he given an opportunity to challenge it.I" suit, ](oth chorged thot the true fea,on for nOnretentionWil' hpulli<h him for statements made by him which werecritical of the un;ver_,ityadmini,tration _ an alleged violot;onof freedom of ,peech-1lnd tl1Mfailure to giv~ him notice ofIhe reason, and on oPl>ortunity (or" hearing v;olated hi,!ighllo procedural due pro~ess. Overturning the lower courtdecisioll" the Supreme Court ruled thot Roth harl no ,uch'i~hl'. The Court puinte,l out that no chMge, were modeagain5ll~oth which might have damaged hi, $t"ndin~ and/orassociation' in the communily, Ne;ther had Roth dcmon-;lrated Ihat the ded5ion not to rehire him was due to hisexerci,e oi free speech_ The term, at his contract of em-ployment through June 30, 1%9, we'" mel and no ,tateSlitlule or unive";ty [ule provided him any ··proµerty "'-,,,rect" in hi, µo'ition 1}1"lthot dMe, Thu" there were IlOr;ght, to due proc"".~ 'imil"" yet lochn;cally different, "".Ie (1972) in"olveJRohert Sindermann, an instructor al Odessa (l'€xos) luniarCollege Sindermann had taught for two year; at theUniverSityof Tex" "rld ior four yeors"t Sail Antonio JuniorCollege. In '1%5,he joined the facult\' o( Odessa College andlJ,,~h( for four years under a ,erie, of one-year contr"c\<,During the ']%~-69school \,ear, he wa, rrddent of the lex",Junior College TeacherS' ,~"ocial;on "nd in that copadtyopenl\' disogreed with polkie, of his Board of Kegenl', InMay, -I%~, the ~oard voted not (0 renew hi, cOlltract andiSlue<!a pre" relea,e covering hi' olleged insubordinatiOIlSinderm,1nn W,15provided no official "atement o( rea,O'"nOr was he prov;de{1 a hearingAction wa, brought in (ederal di'tric\ court ~harging thatthe deci,iol1 not to rehire him wa, ba,ed on hi' publiccritici'm 01 policie, and thu, wo, nn fnfringement of hi'freedom 0; slleech rights and llwt foilure to provide a hearingw,1S 0 violo(ion of his right to procedur1l1 due proce",\Ithough the d;,triO court upheld the Board, the Court of,~ppe"l, reverSed the decision, The Sup""me Court, Orla writof ~crtiorari, hel,l that Sindermann', lo~k of tenure diJ notcldeal h;, claims. It wa> pointed out tl1M he hnd 110t yet,hown that hi; rlOnretention Wa5 in retaliation lor hi' freespee~h ,1Ctiv;!ies_;or the di'trict COllr( had not mad" apreiµer iTlvestigationofthi' i"ue_ However, his lock of formaltenur<"wa, highl" relevanl to his due proce" claim, HeJllege<1(h,1tthc college had a de facto lenure ,y5tCIl1and (hathe ha<ilenc"e under (hot ,y,tem. Whereas on e,pe~tancy of(enLirei, not protected, the 1llleged de facto tenure policydid ent;tie Sindcrmonn to an opportunity to pro\ie thelegitimacy o( his claim His claim wa, ba,eJ Orl hi' relianceon the Odella Facully Guide which stated, in part, (hotOJe"" Collo"o has no ten"," 'y"om. Tile admini,mtio" ofll,~ ,-"II"go ,,'i~,es :he ;,coulty",,,,nbN to feel tl>,t ne hasPo""",,"n' (onure a> lon~ '" I,i, Lcacil;ng ,ervice' ,1<",,,, "LtnoIV,,Ild as loog oSh.di'pl"l's a coop""tiv" attitudot~wa,d hisco-wor~e" ond h;, ,uporior" and., long"' ho ish"ppy in his wo'k_It ,-la, judged that Sinderm"nn ,hould have been given 0hearing to challenge the reaSOnSior hi' noltretention owingto hi, "I>roperty interest" in hi, pmition. The Supreme Courtul,held the Appeab Court'; remand of the ca,e to the district(ourt ior " full hearing on the issue"Con,iuering the ]{o(h and Sindermann ca,e, together, oneinaI' conclude that in lbe nonrenewol of a contract 01 "nOOlen,"ed bcult,. member, due pfOce" requircment, donot ilpply unIe" the individual demonstrates thol thedcci,ion not to rehire him wa, bos<Xion hi, exert;,e ofConsl;lution~1 rights Reg""ling "properly intere,t,," thefourteenth Amendment's due process I"ovi,ion, do not,'pply unl"ss the instructor demonslrates that he ha, alreadyacquired i"tere,t, in _'pecific benefit>-e,g, (enure TheSillderrTl'nn case e'tabli,hed that th,,_,e intere,iS may be inthe form 0; a formal tenure'policy or implied irom wmd" andCOrlduCl,i,e. n de facto tellure policy(),rtaillly, di;missal of " nontenured faculty memberduring the co,"''" of hi; contracl (no( simply nonrenewallwould lall into the some ~atcgory"S termination of 0 lenuredhcul,y member. In either case, procedural ,Iue l>rocessmuslbe J{lhered to Specifically, thi' meon, that the facultymember ;hould h,1Vethe following rights: (lj the right to af;m anrl written notice, delivered in per,on or by certdied",oil, (21 the right to a foir hearing, during whic.h the in-,trud", has an opportunity to te,tif,. and pre,ent evidence inhi, hehalf; (3) the r;ght to" fair tr;bunal, not including thosewho h,we brought ch"rge;; 14)the right to legal ~OlJn,el; (.11the right to confront ond crass-examine witn""e" (6) the(ight to femain ,ilent; (7) the right lo 0 record oi the hearing;(Ui the r;ght of appeal to the in'titutiOrl'S president and thento the board of tru"ee,; "nd (9j the risht of aweal tu a civilcourtCurreotlrend, i" educational law indicate that the 'tolll,of «,nure Can no longer be \iiewed unilot~rall\', ,ince courts"re clJr<e"tly fO~ll,ing greater COnCernon tlte due proce"~rocedures undcrwhkh tenure i, removed and/or contract,w""',,ue(! 0" p'go 20(DUCATIONAI. CONIIDERA'IIONS2Educational Considerations, Vol. 2, No. 1 [1974], Art. 5https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations/vol2/iss1/5DOI: 10.4148/0146-9282.2130regardlc>, of its qualitv, will be greatly diminished,If re,ea,ch monagement ,esult> in even minim.1 im-pro"emen!> in the qu.lity o' re,earch, while at the ,ame timereducing thc volume of reseJrch publication" the effect onthe re,earch and d~veloµmeh\ eifort in ()lJf "Kiely will bes\aftlir1~.Suppose (ca,e 11,for in,tance, that:lO percent of the,eseMch a,ticles whith Me currently published cont,in a,igniiicant lact. Suppo'" further, th"t an individuol in ,omegiven di,cipline read" on the aworage, '10 percer1t of the totalpuulitation, for hi, <Ii,ciµIine,0" the a"um'ptio" thm he willencoullter inloTm"\1veMticles with the ,arne frequency thatthey orc repre,ented in the population of articles, we canexpect a given individuol to encounter eight 'ignifiCJnt"rticle, per one hUlldred available,Ii "OW (ca,e 21 the volume of publication> coulrl bereJuced bv 50 percent while Lhequali(y improved only (0 thepoint where 30 percel1[ of l)uLlished .rticlc5 contained asignifiContfact, then, with the ,ame read ing rate, the overagewurker would ~oV!"rAD µercenl of the publi,hed liLerJtlIreOn the average, each worker would en~O<Jnte'r,as 0 con-,eq"cnoc, twelve 'igniiicMt article,. While in moving fromca,e 1 10 CJ,e 2 there is a "17 percent 10» in 'ignik.nt "'-ticle, within Ihe (ot,,1 ,y,tem, each worker, nevertheless,bccome, acquainLed with SO percent more 'ignificant "r-ticles, .\L ;irst glance, it would appear that we have enrichedthe individual workOIat the expense of thc (otal informatio"weal{h of the ,ystem, I ,hall ~Qntend that Lhisi5 true only inthe ,horl runFew 01 u' would rlispute the ""ertion th"t verbal "'-tGractioll with fellow re,earchers can contribute Loproductive re,earch, Con,ider the nature of verbal in-teraction under c"e, 1 and 2: In ca,e 1, and acceptinB i(sJ5>umption>fo, the ,"ke of example, the overage worker wiIIhave in hi, posse"io" illiormJtion from eight Significantartide, oul oi" population 0; one hundred. Therefore, if t"'oworkers "\tempL 10 ~Olwe,-,e. tne lacts lrom a maximum ofonly 'Ib percent of significnnt .rtide, available can be held incommon, In ~"-,e 2, ,15 percent of significant fact5 will beheld in conlmon Thu" we rn"y conclude that thep,obnbilitie, of fruitl,,1 ;nl£,"Oion wiIIbe three time, "' greatin the second case ", in the lirsl C05e. 'Ne might, therefore,c'pect thot the incrc",ed incidence of fruitful re,earcherinlcr"Oion and concomitant increa,e in re,earch prodLJctionwould, ill the long run, mOre than oif,e\ the initial 1055illtotal ''1stern facLsin going illCo'e 1 (0 case",tenure and due processcomi""..;,! hom µ'go 11Lermillated It would ,eern prudent for institution; to providea due prace" hearing to any fatuity member who reque,t,one ~rwho challenges lhe doei,ion to terminate the status of(enure or ,1 contraCt. Under the developing ].w of dueµroce". the ,tatu, 0; tenLJrealld even continuing ~Qntrac(sha, been given new legal 'igllifkance in light o( the fact that"eXlwctanty 01 ,e_cmploymen(" now con'tituto, a new kind01 propcrty rigbL toat in,titutions CJnnot capriciou,ly takeaway.In closi"8, consider an incelltive ;or research m,1nagementof an entirely differenl order lhan those alreadv described. Ifihe ill,titLJtion of ,eseJr(.h mallagemenl within a university,hould give tnot unive"ity" competitive edge, either real oropporen!. over other LJnive"itie>; then, in order to survive,the other LJnive"itie>wifl hove to conrorm Furtnermure, acompetitive edge, once e'tabl ished, call be used 10 obtain aneven 8roater competitive Nfge. Co"sequently, we Can expectthat those in,titutio,,; whj(.h ar" fi"t in (he fjeld will haveevery oppor(unity to remain lirst in the>iielJFOOTNon,I. fo, """"pi", .",,' F I Roetllli,berger and W I Dick,o<l,'''''.''''""'''''''''' ""d rhe \Vor,cr (Halyard Universityp,"", 19.19); a"d"ete' CI"", r "'",1,'lgC ami I'o\,'.r in ,ocial Life(NewYmk: JollnWil""& Sons, 1%4]: '1'0, The D)'",01.'c, oi 6llr"i'UmcY (Cflic'go: ThoU"'.'e"ity 0' Chicago Pross, 1~551,2 Robe,l Modon's distinotion,) I'aul A. Samllel,on, fconomic.', (;','r. 2 (N"w York:,'kG,,,wHill. 1~70],'j, Th;, ide.;, developed in W. I~o" A,hbv', Desig" h, 8"i.'1(Loodon: Chop"''''' "nd Hall, 1%6).S. Ile,bed A Simons' di5cu55ioouf '·.rt;,al and hori,ontalJ;v",o" 01 I,tiln" control versus task efficienn ;, wMh tbinkillg,1:>0"" in 'hi, connoctiol1.See "The ~rove,b, of Administratioll,"1\,;,),0 Adm,ojsr,,,,,'on Roview. '1~4b,IIin-service programs,o,,,io,,,'d icom ''''W' 16,,,rvice programs, the ,pecific details and guideli nes of such aprocedure ,noulJ be formulated ioinLly by teacher> alld,uµervisors, A program as outlined require, comi<lerablerecord keeping, but the aJvanlOges to he gained far o"t-Il"mhcr the disadvant,1ge, to be encountered In a givenIchool district, the procedllre could be h"ndled at eachbuildirlg bv a t"acher committee operating under theguidelines of (he diwict-wiJe policy. Slich a local committeecould deciJe, for e"mple, tnat a 5(h grade teacber whoIroveled ill y",emite National Park and took slide, for u,enextw", in" social.,tudie, ,",iLhud met hi, requirment 0' in-,ervice credit. bch (eacher's in-,ervice record wO\Jldevcllwally be ,ubmiL(ed to the central .,Imini,trative office,SummaryTne Iteps in providing a relevan( in-service prog'om forteacher> involve l]the ."e"ment oi ore", ill which (e"cherswi,h (o receive help, 2) providing alternative way' forteachers to pJrti~ipate, J) utilizing an in-';e,vice bulletin toannounCe the vnrious programs, 41 utilization of teaoherlender> to prepare and pre,ent in-service programs, 51 in-volvement 0; teachers in formulation of a policy of utilizingir\-servicc credit ,ur salary increment;, These step, providefor "0 in-se,vice progr.m bMed on a"€,,ed need, ,ather tnanon oubide pre,cribed topics, ..'·rWU(ATIONAL CONSIDERATION53Mills and Hartung: Tenure and Due ProcessPublished by New Prairie Press, 2017

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Tenure and Due Process

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