September 28, 2009

When Tenured Professors Are Laid Off, What Recourse?

At Southern Mississippi, fights against program cuts are hampered by the lack of a formal process, professors find

Lee Celano for The Chronicle

Mark Klinedinst, an economics professor at the U. of Southern Mississippi, appealed the decision to cut the major by citing the numbers of nonmajors in the program.

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Lee Celano for The Chronicle

Mark Klinedinst, an economics professor at the U. of Southern Mississippi, appealed the decision to cut the major by citing the numbers of nonmajors in the program.

By David Glenn

If the University of Southern Mississippi seeks to fire a tenured faculty member for cause—that is, for allegedly sleeping with a student or some other malfeasance—that faculty member has recourse to a long sequence of hearings and appeals, spelled out in 48 paragraphs in the faculty handbook.

But Southern Mississippi, like many other institutions, guarantees no such appeals when tenured faculty members are slated for termination because of "financial exigency" or because