Faulty Towers: Tenure and the Structure of Higher Education

by Ryan C. Amacher, Roger E. Meiners

Overview

In Faulty Towers: Tenure and the Structure of Higher Education, Ryan C. Amacher and Roger E. Meiners examine the internal and external reforms necessary to bring competitive forces to American universities and thereby improve them.

As debate accelerates over the declining standards in higher education, academic tenure is viewed with suspicion by many, who see it merely as job protection for incompetent teachers. Even many professors believe tenure is a guarantee of lifelong entitlement, whereby only the commission of a crime can lead to dismissal. Faulty Towers sets the record straight by elucidating the history, legal status, and common misunderstandings regarding tenure.

Tenured professors who have become incompetent are rarely dismissed, and superior teaching is rarely rewarded, although there is little to prevent universities from doing so. Tough administrators are also hard to find—in part because university trustees seldom hold them accountable. Faulty Towers explains how restructuring university incentives to be more in line with those of market-based enterprises would produce greater accountability, stronger boards of trustees, more effective administrators, and a tenure system that protects academic freedom but not substandard education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780945999898
Publisher:	Independent Institute
Publication date:	03/01/2004
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Ryan C. Amacher (1945–2016) was Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and former President at the University of Texas at Arlington. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Virginia, and served as Dean of the College of Commerce and Industry at Clemson University, Chairman of the Department of Economics at Arizona State University, Senior International Economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Oklahoma, Economist at the General Electric TEMPO Center for Advanced Studies, and Consultant to the Federal Trade Commission.

Roger E. Meiners is the John and Judy Goolsby and E.M. (Manny) Rosenthal Chair in Economics and Law at the University of Texas at Arlington, Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, Fellow of the George W. Bush Institute, and Senior Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center. Having received his Ph.D. in economics from Virginia Tech and J.D. from the University of Miami, he has served as Director of the Center for Policy Studies at Clemson University, a faculty member at Texas A & M University and Emory University, Director of the Atlanta Regional Office of the Federal Trade Commission, Associate Director of the Law and Economics Center at Emory University, and a Member of the South Carolina Insurance Commission.

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
	Introduction	xi
Chapter 1	The Origins of Tenure	1
Chapter 2	The Legal Meaning of Tenure	13
Chapter 3	Roots of the Structural Problems in Higher Education	27
Chapter 4	Eating the Fixed Pie	35
Chapter 5	Managing Faculty as a Valued Resource	49
Chapter 6	Reforming Tenure or University Structure?	55
Chapter 7	Internal Reforms	65
Chapter 8	External Reforms	79
Chapter 9	Conclusion	93
	Appendix	95
	Notes	107
	References	111
	Index	117
	About the Authors	123

Editorial Reviews

A very sensible, balanced and informed book on the complex problems of governing colleges and universities, and not the least of its virtues is its convincing demonstration that academic tenure is not the major obstacle to improving colleges and universities, as so many believe.

Nathan Glazer

In Faulty Towers: Tenure and the Structure of Higher Education, I am pleased to see The Independent Institute has produced another useful resource for academics, administrators and all those concerned with educational reform.

Diane Aviv

Faulty Towers is a welcome contribution to the debate over tenure. It is especially effective in explicating the tensions inherent in protecting academic freedom while addressing instances of professorial incompetence and malfeasance.

Henry M. Levin

We must seriously reassess the rules and institutions that govern higher education. In the pathbreaking book, Faulty Towers, Amacher and Meiners are clear-headed and courageous guides for this important endeavor.

Donald J. Boudreaux

Faulty Towers has two major strands of thought. First, there are obviously many incompetent professors who need to be removed from the academy, a point made on almost every other page. Second, the organization of universities and the sole authority to run them needs to be turned over to a market-driven,executive administrative branch that is free from the tyranny of faculty involvement with any but the most cursory input... On reflection, this book has many ideas and suggestions worth considering within the structure of one's own institution. I am sure that several have potential and some institutions would benefit from discussing some of the ideas presented.

Canadian Journal of Education