Comments about ‘Bill to eliminate tenure in Utah fails in House committee’

This is a long overdue change that is really needed.

It lost 10-4 this time but if pushed every session, it will eventually pass.

As for the scare stories from the self proclaimed elites from the ivory towers that no one will want to teach in Utah, if that means we might not get the traditional academics lured by tenure, that would be a good thing.

Thanks for trying this session. Keep trying until it passes!

And, parents and students, fewer tenured faculty who are no longer actively teaching will greatly reduce the costs of a college education, which should be passed on in tuition cuts.

Thank goodness that common sense prevailed. Tenure is not a gift. One has to work very hard to achieve it. The possibility of earning it attracts quality higher ed faculty.

Tenure or How the education establishment got its little piece of the communist pie.

@DN Subscriber 8:58 p.m.

Do you understand the reason behind tenure? It is to protect professors who research, publish and teach from the zealots who disagree with them.

Imagine, if every time a professor taught something that rankled a Utah State Legislator, they put pressure on the Universities by threatening to withhold money unless that professor were let go. That curbs academic freedom, and therefore, unfettered research that could ultimately be beneficial to mankind (not to mention, to business).

That is not to say I like professors who hide behind tenure when they are poor teachers. I had a couple of professors while at University that were contemptuous of their own students, poor instructors, and one that even refused to have office hours to meet with undergraduates. But, professors like that could be dealt with by changes in the tenure system rather than doing away with it completely.

But, by all means, let's remove tenure from Utah universities. Let's scare away nationally respected teachers and researchers. Let's watch the value of a University education in Utah plummet because the legislature and other zealots in the state want to control what is taught (kind of like our K-12 system). We might as well prepare ourselves for a return to the dark ages as higher education in this state will become worthless and companies that value college educations will avoid moving to Utah to do business.