A proposal to alter disciplinary regulations at universities so that professors can be fired has sparked a fierce debate in Germany. Abolishing the privileges that academic professors enjoy as civil servants is the only way to counter stagnation, insists Klaus Landfried, head of the assembly of University directors (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz).

Landfried's public comments have drawn an angry response from Hartmut Schiedermaier, president of the Hochschulverband, an organization akin to a trade union for professors.

Tenureship carries with it such strong terms of employment in Germany that it is virtually impossible to be removed from office. The most striking example of this was the case of oncologists Friedhelm Herrmann and Marion Brach, who were found guilty in 1997 of faking data in 47 research papers. Herrmann sued his employer, the state of Baden-Würtemberg, for compensation before finally quitting Ulm University last fall "of his own free will." Brach was reportedly close to receiving DM100,000 ($US55,000) compensation for vacating her position at Lübeck University, until state governor Heide Simonis intervened.

Another case is that of Volker Storch, head of the Institute of Zoology at Heidelberg University. Storch has announced that he wants to dismiss marine biologist Hajo Schmidt, charging that "[Schmidt] has evaded any kind of work for twenty years." Schmidt's last scientific publication dates from the early 1980s and he has trained only one PhD candidate during this time, says Storch. Professors don't even have an obligation to be available at their workplace," says Storch, who runs a popular teaching course at Heidelberg University and is the author of numerous textbooks and research papers.

It is this type of behavior that Landfried aims to punish by introducing new legislation. In the meantime, the state government of Nordrhein-Westfalen has also tightened up on the loosely defined teaching obligations of its employees. Effective the end of this year, professors will be obliged to teach a minimum of three courses per week and be available for consultations four days per week.