Bill requiring university job evaluations passes in KY House, critics worry about tenure
A bill that would require public colleges and universities to implement a performance evaluation system for faculty members — including tenured professors — passed out of the state House on Wednesday.
House Bill 424, sponsored by Rep. James Tipton, R-Taylorsville, would require public university presidents and faculty members to undergo an evaluation at least once every four years. Failure to meet “performance and productivity” standards would allow the university to fire the employee.
Evaluations would be required at all public universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
University professors who oppose the bill say they worry the bill could put tenure promotion — and the jobs of tenured faculty — at risk in Kentucky.
“We have a lot of great faculty members at our public institutions across the state, but unfortunately, sometimes in every institution, we may have individuals who are not doing the job they need to do,” Tipton said at a House Postsecondary Education Committee meeting earlier this month.
“There may be reasons it’s in the best benefit of the university to be able to remove an individual,” he said. “This sets up a process about how this would work.”
Tipton has repeatedly said the bill is “not about tenure,” but about employment contracts.
“This is about providing the university the ability to do what’s best for the university, to do what’s best for their students and be more responsive to the taxpayers and citizens of Kentucky,” Tipton said.
Tipton introduced similar legislation last year, although the bill did not pass out of the House Education Committee.
In the House on Wednesday, Tipton said performance and productivity standards would be determined by each university’s governing board, but could relate to things like employees showing up to work on time, or employees who refuse to teach online or in-person classes when assigned.
Rep. Rachel Roarx, D-Louisville, spoke against the bill, saying it added additional burdens to Kentucky universities.
“Attracting professors, and recruitment and retention, is at an all-time concerning point,” Roarx said. “This is something that our professors feel is unnecessary, that there are already systems in place for oversight, and that we already have safeguards to account for issues that come up.”
If the Senate passes the bill, schools would have until January 1, 2026 to establish an evaluation method, and the process would go into effect on July 1, 2026.
Professors express concern about impact on tenure
Tenure is an indefinite appointment at universities, meaning tenured employees can only be terminated for cause or under specific circumstances, according to the American Association of University Professors.
Receiving tenure is a lengthy process for university faculty, including extensive evaluations, feedback and applications.
For example, at the University of Kentucky, to apply for tenure a professor must first compile a dossier including their research or publications, teaching portfolio, recommendations and narrative statements.
Over the next several months, that dossier is then reviewed by the professor’s educational unit, college and provost, before the president brings the recommendation to the board of trustees, according to UK’s website.
Julie Cyzewski, an associate professor at Murray State University who is tenured, spoke against the bill earlier this month. Cyzewski said the bill could hurt the ability to recruit professors to Kentucky and puts faculty at risk of termination.
“Removing tenure protections removes protections for faculty to conduct research and teach free from outside influence,” Cyzewski said. “This risks undermining the reputation of Kentucky’s public higher (education) system and puts student success at risk.”
Bernadette Barton, a professor at Morehead State University, spoke against the bill earlier this month. Barton said tenured faculty currently undergo annual performance reviews, and echoed Cyzewski’s concerns about the ability to recruit faculty if tenure is at risk.
“What this bill would do is what I see as a process of eroding tenure, and it would allow the board and the presidents to terminate faculty for possibly ideological reasons,” Barton said.