Hostname: page-component-6898cfcb55-th4rj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-11T10:20:41.103Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tenure and academic freedom: Prospects and constraints

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2007

Stephen J. Ceci,
Wendy M. Williams and
Katrin Mueller-Johnson
Stephen J. Ceci*
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 http://www.human.cornell.edu/che/Features/bio.cfm?netid=sjc9
Wendy M. Williams*
Affiliation:
Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 http://www.human.cornell.edu/che/Features/bio.cfm?netid=sjc9
Katrin Mueller-Johnson*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Law, Cambridge University, Cambridge CB3 9DT, United Kingdom http://www.human.cornell.edu/che/Features/bio.cfm?netid=wmw5
*
sjc9@cornell.edu
wmw5@cornell.edu
kum20@cam.ac.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

In our target article, we took the position that tenure conveys many important benefits but that its original justificationfostering academic freedomis not one of them. Here we respond to various criticisms of our study as well as to proposals to remedy the current state of affairs. Undoubtedly, more research is needed to confirm and extend our findings, but the most reasonable conclusion remains the one we offeredthat the original rationale for tenure is poorly served by the current system as practiced at top-ranked colleges and universities.

Information

Type
Authors’ Response
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 29 , Issue 6 , December 2006, pp. 586 - 594
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

References

Advocate, editors (2006) By the numbers. Advocate 952:20. [AJJ]Google Scholar
Agassi, J. (1981) Cultural lag in science. In: Science and society, pp. 119155. Boston Studies in the Philosophy, Vol. 65. D. Reidel. [JW]10.1007/978-94-011-6456-6_10CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agassi, J. (2003) Science as a public enterprise. In: Science and culture, pp. 35971. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 231. Kluwer. [JW]Google Scholar
American Association of University Professors (1940) Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. In: Academic freedom and tenure: A handbook of the AAUP. American Association of University Professors. [arSJC]Google Scholar
American Association of University Professors (2006). History of the AAUP. www.aaup.org/AAUP/About/history. [GG]Google Scholar
Angrist, J. D. & Krueger, A. B. (1999) Empirical strategies in labor economics. In: Handbook of labor economics, ed. Ashenfelter, O. & Card, D., pp. 1278357. Elsevier Science. [WBM]Google Scholar
Bass, B. M. & Yammarino, F. J. (1991) Congruence of self and others leadership ratings of naval officers for understanding successful performance. Applied Psychology 40:43754. [aSJC]10.1111/j.1464-0597.1991.tb01002.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babbage, C. (1830) Reflections on the decline of science in England. R. Clay. [JW]Google Scholar
Bailey, R. (2006) Science, normal science and science education: Thomas Kuhn and education. Learning for Democracy 2(2):720. [JW]Google Scholar
Baum, L. (1994) What judges want: Judges goals and judicial behavior. Political Research Quarterly 47(3):74968. [JR]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becher, T. & Trowler, P. R. (2001) Academic tribes and territories: Intellectual enquiry and the culture of disciplines. Open University Press. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Bem, D. J. & Allen, A. (1974) On predicting some of the people some of the time: The search for cross-situational consistencies in behavior. Psychological Review 81:50620. [SOL]10.1037/h0037130CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyerstein, B. L. (1995) Science versus pseudoscience. Centre for Curriculum and Professional Development. [SOL]Google Scholar
Block, J. (1977) Advancing the psychology of personality: Paradigmatic shift or improving the quality of research? In: Personality at the crossroads: Current issues in interactional psychology, ed. Magnusson, D. & Endler, N. S., pp. 3763. Wiley. [SOL]Google Scholar
Brown, R. S. & Kurland, J. E. (1993) Academic tenure and academic freedom. Duke University Press. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Byse, C. & Joughin, L. (1959) Tenure in American higher education. Cornell University Press. [arSJC]Google Scholar
Carlson, R. (1984) What's social about social psychology? Where's the person in personality research? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 35:105574. [SOL]Google Scholar
Carmichael, H. L. (1988) Incentives in academe: Why is there tenure? Journal of Political Economy 96(3):45372. [WBM, HLC]10.1086/261547CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carter, J. (2006) Questions and answers. Source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/29/11414/0450. [AJJ]Google Scholar
Clark, B. R. (1997) Small worlds, different worlds: The uniquenesses and troubles of American academic professions. Daedalus 126(4):2142. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Chronicle of Higher Education (1987) Free speech incident leads to tenure denial and divides faculty opinion at Northwestern. Chronicle of Higher Education, February 18, 1987:3. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Chu, J. (2005) Fighting words. Time Magazine, March 7, 2005, p. 38. [aSJC]10.1080/07321870590910945CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, M. A. (1991) Explaining judicial behavior or what's unconstitutional about the sentencing commission? Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 7(1):18399. [JR]Google Scholar
Couzin, J. (2006) Scientific misconduct: Truth and consequences. Science 313(5791):122226. [WBM]10.1126/science.313.5791.1222CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Waal, F. (1998) Chimpanzee politics: Power and sex among apes. Johns Hopkins Press. [aSJC]10.56021/9780801858390CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drazen, J. M. (2002) Institutions, contracts, and academic freedom. New England Journal of Medicine 347:136263. [EAF]10.1056/NEJMe020122CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dubin, S. C. (1993) Tongue untied. Nation 257(2):7274. [AJJ]Google Scholar
Education Reform Act (1988) Education Reform Act. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Ehrenberg, R. G., Pieper, P. J. & Willis, R. A. (1998) Do economics departments with lower tenure probabilities pay higher faculty salaries? Review of Economics and Statistics 80(4):50312. [WBM]10.1162/003465398557780CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrenberg, R. G. & Zhang, L. (2004) The changing nature of faculty employment. Paper presented at the TIAA-CREF Institute conference on Retirement, Retention and Recruitment, New York, NY, April 12, 2004. Available at: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/cheri/ [arSJC]10.4337/9781845425548.00010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrenberg, R. G. & Zhang, L. (2005) Do tenured and tenure-track faculty matter? Journal of Human Resources 40(3):64759. [WBM]10.3368/jhr.XL.3.647CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epley, N. & Dunning, D. (2000) Feeling holier than thou: Are self-serving assessments produced by errors in self or social psychology? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79:86175. [aSJC]10.1037/0022-3514.79.6.861CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Epley, N. & Dunning, D. (2004) The mixed blessings of self-knowledge in behavioral prediction. Unpublished manuscript, Harvard University. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Epstein, S. (1979) The stability of behavior: I. On predicting most of the people much of the time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37:1097126. [SOL]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairbanks, E. (2006) A hot papermuzzles academia. Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2006, p. M1. Available at: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-fairbanks14may14,1,6447050.story?collla-news-comment. [KM]Google Scholar
Farrington, D. J. (1994) The law of higher education. Butterworths. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Finkin, M. W. (1996) The case for tenure. Cornell University Press. [ED]Google Scholar
Fogg, P. (2005) Presidents favor scrapping tenure. Chronicle of Higher Education 52(11):31. [AJJ]Google Scholar
Fuchs, R. F. (1997) Academic freedom its basic philosophy, function, and history. In: Academic freedom and tenure, pp. 13655. DeGeorge. [arSJC]Google Scholar
Fuller, S. (2002) Knowledge management foundations. Butterworth-Heinemann. [SF]Google Scholar
Fussell, S. R. & Krauss, R. M. (1991) Coordination of knowledge in communication. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 62:37891. [aSJC]10.1037/0022-3514.62.3.378CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glenn, D. (2005) Professor who was accused of making derogatory remarks in class wants UNLV to clear his record. Chronicle of Higher Education, February 14, 2005, p. 2. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Gottfredson, L. S. (2005a) Suppressing intelligence research. In: Destructive trends in mental health: The well-intentioned path to harm, ed. Wright, R. H. & Cummings, N. A., pp. 15586. Routledge. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Gottfredson, L. S. (2005b) What if the hereditarian hypothesis is true? Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 11:31119. [aSJC]10.1037/1076-8971.11.2.311CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gross, N. & Simmons, S. (2006) Americans views of political bias in the academy and academic freedom. Available at: http://www.aaup.org/NR/rdonlyres/DCF3EBD7-509E-47AB-9AB3-FBCFFF5CA9C3/0/2006Gross.pdf [GG]Google Scholar
Harris, G. (2005) Official quits on pill delay at the F.D.A. The New York Times, September 1, 2005 (Online edition). [AJJ]Google Scholar
Hoag, H. (2006) Doubts over evolution block funding by Canadian agency. Nature 440:72021. [GG]10.1038/440720bCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hohm, C. & Shore, H. (1998) The academy under siege. Sociological Perspectives 41:82732. [aSJC]10.2307/1389673CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horn, M. (1999) Academic freedom in Canada: A history. University of Toronto Press. [DCD]10.3138/9781442670570CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huer, J. (1991) Tenure for Socrates. Bergin & Garvey. [arSJC]Google Scholar
Hunt, M. (1999) The new know-nothings: The political foes of the scientific study of human nature. Transaction Press. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Kendler, K. S., Bulik, C. M., Silberg, J., Hetteman, J. M., Myers, J. & Prescott, C. A. (2000) Childhood sexual abuse and adult psychiatric and substance abuse disorders in women: An epidemiological and cotwin control analysis. Archives of General Psychiatry 57:95359. [SOL]10.1001/archpsyc.57.10.953CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kenrick, D. T. & Funder, D. C. (1988) Profiting from controversy: Lessons from the person-situation debate. American Psychologist 43:2334. [SOL]10.1037/0003-066X.43.1.23CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kimball, R. (1990) Tenured radicals. Harper Collins. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Kuhn, T. (1962) The structure of scientific revolutions. The University of Chicago Press. [JW]Google Scholar
Leonard Jeffries v. Bernard Harleston (1995) Leonard Jeffries v. Bernard Harleston, No. 953, Docket No. 93-7876. Decided April 4, 1995. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Lilienfeld, S. O. (2002) When worlds collide: Social science, politics, and the Rind et al. (1998) child sexual abuse meta-analysis. American Psychologist 57:22527. [SOL]10.1037/0003-066X.57.3.225CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lodge, D. (1995) Small World. Penguin. [ED]Google Scholar
Loftus, E. E. & Guyer, M. J. (2002) Who abused Jane Doe? [Part 2]. Skeptical Enquirer July/August 2002, pp. 3740. [EAF]Google Scholar
MacDonald, K. B. (1994) A people that shall dwell alone: Judaism as a group evolutionary strategy. Praeger. [aSJC]Google Scholar
MacDonald, K. B. (1998a) Separation and its discontents: Toward an evolutionary theory of anti-Semitism. Praeger. [aSJC]Google Scholar
MacDonald, K. B. (1998b) The culture of critique: An evolutionary analysis of Jewish involvement in twentieth-century intellectual and political movements. Praeger. [aSJC]Google Scholar
MacDonald, T. K. & Ross, M. (1999) Assessing the accuracy of predictions about dating relationships: How and why do lovers predictions differ from those made by observers? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 25:141729. [aSJC]10.1177/0146167299259007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machlup, F. (1958) Can there be too much research? Science 128:132025. [aSJC]CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Menand, L. (2001) The metaphysical club: A story of ideas in America. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. [SOL]Google Scholar
Merton, R. K. (1942) The normative structure of science. In: The sociology of science, ed. Storer, N. W., pp. 26778. The University of Chicago Press. [SOL]Google Scholar
Merton, R. K. (1973) The Mathew Effect in science. In: The sociology of science, ed. Storer, N. W., pp. 43959. The University of Chicago Press. [JW]Google Scholar
Michael Levin v. Bernard Harleston (1990) Michael Levin v. Bernard Harleston, No. 90 Civ. 6123 (KC). United States District Court S.D. New York. December 3, 1990. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Mischel, W. (1968) Personality and assessment. Wiley. [SOL]Google Scholar
Mitroff, I. I. & Fitzgerald, I. (1977) On the psychology of the Apollo Moon scientists: A chapter in the psychology of science. Human Relations 30:65774. [SOL]10.1177/001872677703000801CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nathan, D. G. & Weatherall, D. J. (2002) Academic freedom in clinical research. New England Journal of Medicine 347:136871. [EAF]10.1056/NEJMsb020394CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nell, V. (2006) Cruelty's rewards: The gratifications of perpetrators and spectators. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 29:22157. [rSJC]10.1017/S0140525X06009058CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nisbett, R. E. & Kunda, Z. (1985) Perceptions of social distributions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 48:297311. [aSJC]10.1037/0022-3514.48.2.297CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olswang, S. (2003) A look ahead at various issues from the standpoint of college and university attorneys: The future of tenure Status Report includes origin of tenure. Change Magazine of Higher Learning 35:3044. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Oliveri Symposium. (2004) Journal of Medical Ethics 30:3034. Available at: http://jme.bmjjournals.com/ [DCD]10.1136/jme.2003.005199CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ondersma, S. J., Chaffin, M., Berliner, L., Cordon, I., Goodman, G. S. & Barnett, D. (2001) Sex with children is abuse: Comment on Rind et al. Psychological Bulletin 127:70714. [SOL]10.1037/0033-2909.127.6.707CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortega, T. (2000) Witness for the persecution. New Times LA, April 26, 2000. Available at: http://www.newtimesla.com/issues/2000-04-20/feature.html [aSJC]Google Scholar
Peters, D. P. & Ceci, S. J. (1982) A naturalistic study of psychology journals: The fate of published articles resubmitted. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 5:187252. [DP]10.1017/S0140525X00011183CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plate, W. (1998) Using tenure. American Behavioral Scientist 41:680. [aSJC]CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rainey, A. (2006) Second choice. Chronicle of Higher Education 52(38):8. [AJJ]Google Scholar
Ransom, M. R. (1993) Seniority and monopsony in the academic labor market. American Economic Review 83(1):22133. [WBM]Google Scholar
Raup, D. M. (1986) The nemesis affair: A story of the death of dinosaurs and the ways of science. W.W. Norton. [SOL]Google Scholar
Revkin, A. C. (2006) Climate expert says NASA tried to silence him. The New York Times, January 29, 2006 (Online edition). [AJJ]Google Scholar
Rind, B., Bauserman, P. & Tromovitch, P. (2000) Science versus orthodoxy: Anatomy of the congressional condemnation of a scientific article and reflections on remedies for future ideological attacks. Applied and Preventive Psychology 9:21125. [SOL]10.1016/S0962-1849(00)80001-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rind, B., Tromovitch, P. & Bauserman, R. (1998) A meta-analytic examination of assumed properties of child sexual abuse using college samples. Psychological Bulletin 124:2253. [SOL]10.1037/0033-2909.124.1.22CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rind, B., Tromovitch, P. & Bauserman, R. (2001) The validity and appropriateness of methods, analyses, and conclusions in Rind et al. (1998): A rebuttal of victimological critique from Ondersma et al. (2001) and Dallam et al. (2001). Psychological Bulletin 127: 73458. [SOL]10.1037/0033-2909.127.6.734CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenwein, R. E. (1994) Social influence in science: Agreement and dissent in achieving scientific consensus. In: The social psychology of science, ed. Shadish, W. R. & Fuller, S., pp. 26285. Guilford. [SOL]Google Scholar
Rudolph, F. (1962) The American college and university: A history. Vintage Books. [ED]Google Scholar
Rushton, J. P. (1998) The new enemies of evolutionary science. Liberty 2(4):3135. [DCD]Google Scholar
Sagan, C. (1995) The demon-haunted world: Science as a candle in the dark. Random House. [SOL]Google Scholar
Schachter, S. (1951) Deviation, rejection, and communication. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 46:190207. [SOL]10.1037/h0062326CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shadish, W. R. & Fuller, S., eds. (1994) The social psychology of science. Guilford. [SOL]Google Scholar
Shadish, W. R., Fuller, S. & Gorman, M. E. (1994) Social psychology of science: A conceptual research program. In: The social psychology of science, ed. Shadish, W. R., & Fuller, S., pp. 3123. Guilford. [SOL]Google Scholar
Shepperd, J. A. (1993) Student derogation of the Scholastic Aptitude Test: Biases in perceptions and presentations of College Board scores. Basic and Applied Social Psychology 14:45573. [aSJC]10.1207/s15324834basp1404_5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shermer, M. (1999) How we believe. Times Books. [MS]Google Scholar
Shermer, M. (2004) The science of good and evil. Times Books. [MS]Google Scholar
Shermer, M. (2006) Why Darwin matters. Times Books. [MS]Google Scholar
Shermer, M. & Sulloway, F. (in preparation) Religion and belief in God. An empirical study. [MS]Google Scholar
Siow, A. (1998) Tenure and other unusual personnel practices in academia. Journal of Law Economics and Organization 14(1):15273. [WBM]10.1093/oxfordjournals.jleo.a023395CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slaughter, S. A. (1980) The danger zone: Academic freedom and civil liberties. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 448:4661. [aSJC, FF]10.1177/000271628044800106CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slaughter, S. A. & Leslie, L. L. (1997) Academic capitalism: Politics, policies, and the entrepreneurial university. Johns Hopkins Press. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Smallwood, S. (2006) Poll finds the public opposes government interference in academe. The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 16, 2006, Vol. 52(41):A1A10. [ED]Google Scholar
Sommers, C. H. & Satel, S. (2005) One nation under therapy: How the helping culture is eroding self-reliance. St. Martin's Press. [SOL]Google Scholar
Spiegel, D. (2000) The price of abusing children and numbers. Sexuality and Culture 4:6366. [SOL]10.1007/s12119-000-1026-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spinner, H. (1993) Althoff and the changing constitution of science. Journal of Economic Studies 20(4/5):13466. [SF]10.1108/EUM0000000000175CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sykes, C. J. (1988). Profscam: Professors and demise of higher education. Regnery Gateway. [aSJC]Google Scholar
Tavris, C. (2002) The high cost of skepticism. Skeptical Inquirer 26(4): 4144. [rSJC]Google Scholar
Tavris, C. (2006) The cost of courage. In: Do justice and let the sky fall: Elizabeth F. Loftus and her contributions to science, law, and academic freedom, ed. Garry, M. & Hayne, H., pp. 199211. Erlbaum. [EAF]Google Scholar
Taylor, S. & Brown, J. (1988) Illusion and well-being. Psychological Bulletin 103:193210. [aSJC]10.1037/0033-2909.103.2.193CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tenbrunsel, A. (1998) Misrepresentation and expectations of misrepresentation in an ethical dilemma: The role of incentives and temptation. Academy of Management Journal 41(3):33039. [aSJC]10.2307/256911CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tierney, W. (1998) Leveling tenure. American Behavioral Scientist 41:627. [aSJC]10.1177/0002764298041005004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wachtel, P. (1973) Psychodynamics, behavior therapy, and the implacable experimenter: An inquiry into the consistency of personality. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 82:32434. [SOL]10.1037/h0035132CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wettersten, J. (1979) Against competence; towards improved standards of evaluation in science and technology. Nature and System 1(4):24556. [JW]Google Scholar
Wettersten, J. (1987a) Achievement and autonomy in intellectual society. Philosophia 40(2):5575. [JW]10.1007/BF02390002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wettersten, J. (1987b)On education and education for autonomy. Interchange 18(4):2125. [JW]10.1007/BF01812236CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wettersten, J. (1987c) On the unification of psychology, methodology and pedagogy: Selz, Popper, Agassi. Interchange 18(4):114. [JW]10.1007/BF01812234CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wettersten, J. (1993) The sociology of scientific establishments today. British Journal of Sociology 44(1):68102. [JW]10.2307/591682CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wettersten, J. (2006) How do institutions steer events? An inquiry into the limits and possibilities of rational thought and action. Ashgate. [JW]Google Scholar
Wright, M. O., Fopma-Loy, J. & Fischer, S. (2005) Multidimensional assessment of resilience in mothers who are child sexual abuse survivors. Child Abuse and Neglect 29:117393. [SOL]10.1016/j.chiabu.2005.04.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed