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The long game of tenure

Nature Biotechnology volume 41, pages 1373–1374 (2023)Cite this article

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In 2009, the American Association of University Professors underscored the importance of academic freedom in the light of Garcetti v. Ceballos1 and stated that “The principal purpose of tenure is to safeguard academic freedom, which is necessary for all who teach and conduct research in higher education.” Nevertheless, the institution of tenure is coming under fire in many states across the United States. This trend is troubling as we firmly believe tenure is necessary for the success and well-being of the academic enterprise. We detail below two distinct yet complementary stories that highlight the value of tenure. Specifically, we describe how tenure enables faculty to speak openly about institutional matters and enables faculty to focus on long-term research.

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References

  1. American Association of University Professors. Protecting an independent faculty voice: academic freedom after Garcetti v. Ceballos. https://www.aaup.org/report/protecting-independent-faculty-voice-academic-freedom-after-garcetti-v-ceballos (2009).

  2. Vardi, M. The whole may be less than the sum of the parts: about the proposed Rice-BCM Merger – 2009. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU_6Vb_60OE (2009).

  3. Cohen, J. Politicians, scientists spar over alleged NIH cover-up using COVID-19 origin paper. Science https://www.science.org/content/article/politicians-scientists-spar-over-alleged-nih-cover-up-using-covid-19-origin-paper (11 July 2023)).

  4. Vardi, M. Universities should support the public good. The Rice Thresher https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2022/09/universities-should-support-the-public-good (27 September 2022).

  5. McGee, K. & Barragán, J. Texas A&M suspended professor accused of criticizing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in lecture. The Texas Tribune https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/25/texas-a-m-professor-opioids-dan-patrick (25 July 2023).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to sincerely thank Luay Nakhleh, Fritz Sedlazeck and Sonia Villapol for their helpful feedback.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Todd J. Treangen & Moshe Y. Vardi

  2. Department of Bioengineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Todd J. Treangen

Authors
  1. Todd J. Treangen
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  2. Moshe Y. Vardi
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Contributions

M.Y.V. and T.J.T. jointly contributed to the conceptualization, writing, edits and revisions.

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Correspondence to Todd J. Treangen.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Treangen, T.J., Vardi, M.Y. The long game of tenure. Nat Biotechnol 41, 1373–1374 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-01929-y

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