photo by: Screenshot // Kansas Board of Regents
The Kansas Board of Regents met on April 14, 2021 and approved two changes to its temporary COVID-19 policy.
The Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday did not back away from a policy that temporarily would make it easier for the University of Kansas to dismiss tenured faculty due to budget woes. But the board did add a couple of new provisions aimed at increasing transparency with the controversial process.
During their board meeting on Wednesday, the Regents heard two recommended changes, which were developed by a workgroup tasked with reviewing the board’s current policy. The workgroup was created at the request of the Council of Faculty Senate Presidents.
Kansas Regents adjust tenured faculty policy for greater transparency cjonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cjonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The University of Kansas will have four more months to potentially put together a policy that has brought backlash not just from its faculty but from higher education groups around the country.
The Kansas Board of Regents on Wednesday approved the university s request to extend a deadline for developing a framework for that policy. The regents at their January meeting had approved an unexpected policy that would allow the state universities to develop frameworks to essentially suspend regular job protections like tenure for faculty and staff in order to deal with the financial ramifications of COVID-19.
That move was quickly condemned not only by KU faculty but by faculty groups across Kansas and the nation that argue any potential policy would circumvent the usual job protection and appeals procedures afforded to faculty with tenure.
In Kansas, it just got easier to fire tenured professors at public universities.
Illustration by The Chronicle
This week we got a new president and vice president. While you were distracted by the presidential inauguration, or giggling at the storm of memes of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, something else happened.
On Wednesday, the Kansas Board of Regents voted to create a process through which the state s six public universities can quickly fire and suspend workers, including tenured faculty members.
Why? Regent Shane Bangerter said the extreme process is imperative, given how the coronavirus pandemic has wrecked the state s higher-education finances. It s a temporary move with a December 2022 end date.
Kansas Regents Make It Easier to Dismiss Tenured Professors chronicle.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chronicle.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.