I believe that the UTC document on tenure and evaluation is a significant
improvement over previous documents, and appreciate the hard work that
resulted in those improvements.  But I could vote for the document only if
the statements on terminating tenured faculty members were separated or
omitted.  I believe that the new  policy was developed with an intent to
improve education, and improving education is something we all care about
deeply. But even if administrators work hard to protect academic freedom,
the proposed policy will inevitably limit that freedom. Faculty are often
cautious about expressing controversial views before they get tenure, and
it is only natural that at least some tenured faculty would hesitate to
speak forthrightly if they felt that doing so could result in a loss of
livelihood. Powerful politicians and wealthy patrons with strong political
opinions will continue, as they always have, to exert pressures that
could intimidate some faculty. (Witness recent developments at the NEA.)
Universities are probably the safest places we have for freedom of speech
in this country. To compromise that freedom, or even risk compromising it,
could ultimately harm our students as much as a few burned-out professors
could.