Va. professors warn against governance boards politicizing tenure processes

The Virginia Conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the largest organization representing university professors in the commonwealth, is raising fresh concerns, after learning the George Mason University’s Board of Visitors inquired in February 2024 about their roles in reviewing promotion and tenure cases.

The educators say they fear the pipeline of college professors could contract if more college governing boards seek to influence the process of hiring and promoting professors.

The debate has bubbled up as the politicization of governing boards at public colleges and universities nationwide, including those in Virginia, has increased. In the commonwealth, the governor appoints members to these boards and appointees must be approved by the General Assembly. Now, as appointees appear to seek more input in teaching staff’s tenure, the AAUP said it could set a bad precedent.

“This is not their job to be academics,” AAUP Virginia Conference president Tim Gibson said in an interview. “They are the guardians of the process. They’re not the guardians of the actual content or making decisions about the teaching and research and service records of faculty.”

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Gibson said one of his chief concerns is that if the pattern continues, it could lead to an exodus of current professors and educators, and deter others from wanting to come to the commonwealth, ultimately resulting in a decline in quality at Virginia’s institutions.

Last summer, the regional AAUP conferences surveyed 2,924 faculty members from 12 states, including Virginia. The results showed that 58.7% of respondents would not recommend their state as a desirable workplace for colleagues, while 28% stated that they plan to apply for a job in another state.

Eight university board appointments by Gov. Glenn Youngkin have faced criticism recently, after Democratic lawmakers in the state Senate rejected them. Senate Privileges and Elections Committee Chair Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, referred to the appointees as “MAGA extremists” and “Project 2025 supporters,” who are opposed to Democrats’ progressive ideals.

Some appointees, including former Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli, are challenging the rejection that have prohibited them from serving on the governing boards. Youngkin has also challenged the decision.

At George Mason, one of the earliest signs of the governance board’s interest in tenure candidates came during a Feb. 22, 2024 Academic Programs, Diversity & University Community committee meeting, when the public learned that the board wanted more details about professors being considered for promotion and tenure candidacy. 

Kenneth Walsh, former interim provost and executive vice president at George Mason, reminded the board at the committee meeting that the review before recommending candidates for tenure is a “comprehensive” process after the institution reviewed 70 applicants for promotion and tenure between August 2023 and May 2024.

Gibson said the conference also learned that the board requested and was provided with complete dossiers of tenure candidates. However, since board members found the dossiers burdensome to review, they requested to inspect only the publications of faculty up for promotion and tenure.

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The dossiers encompass performance and achievements in teaching and mentoring, research, scholarship and creative work, and service. Before candidates are recommended, their dossiers are reviewed by faculty from the department, the department administrator, the dean, and finally, the provost.

Gibson surmised that board members would only ask for the dossiers if they planned to make decisions based on the files. He said that if this continues, future boards could also use the perceived ideological and research content that professors publish to determine whether a faculty member earns tenure, which he said could be a “gross violation” of professors’ academic freedom and the institution’s integrity and independence. 

Horace Blackman, a former appointee of Gov. Ralph Northam and former GMU board rector, added that when the list of candidates reaches the board, “we’re certifying the process has been followed correctly.” 

He said the board meets this task by checking that the “deans, the president, the provost, etc., have completed the thorough and in-depth review and that they are certifying that they’ve passed through all of the hurdles successfully, all the criteria have been adequately followed, and we are certifying to make sure there are no issues, anomalies, or disputes in the process as we move forward.”

However, Visitor Jeff Rosen, a Youngkin appointee, pushed back on the rector’s remarks.

“I think it is the responsibility in governance if there were a massive and obvious error of some kind, the board has a responsibility to identify and address that,” Rosen said. “I don’t disagree with what you said, but I wouldn’t want it to be misconstrued as though somehow there’s nothing else that’s our responsibility.”

Gibson did not name any specific tenure cases that he believed were being politicized, but encouraged faculty to report any such cases to the conference. He also reiterated the conference’s commitment to safeguarding the integrity of the tenure process and protecting academic freedom.