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Attendees fill the building during a grand opening ceremony of Lamar State College Orange?s new Academic Building. Photo made Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024 Kim Brent\/Beaumont Enterprise<\/p>\n
Kim Brent<\/p>\n
The Texas State University System<\/a> wants to end tenure-track positions for future hires at its two-year colleges, aligning with other Texas technical schools that rely on renewable contracts instead of the\u00a0lifetime job protection<\/a> tenure once offered.<\/p>\n The system\u2019s board of regents is scheduled to vote on the proposed rule change at a meeting next Thursday. If passed, no incoming faculty at three schools \u2014 the Lamar Institute of Technology, Lamar State College-Orange and Lamar State College-Port Arthur \u2014 will receive tenure or be put on a tenure track.<\/p>\n Faculty who already have tenure will keep their status, but tenure-track instructors will be moved to annual contracts, system spokesperson Mike Wintemute said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n HIGHER ED: What bachelor’s degrees are offered at Houston-area community colleges?<\/a><\/p>\n In fall 2025, 14 tenure-track faculty taught at the Texas State University System’s two-year institutions, Wintemute said.<\/p>\n Shifting landscape<\/p>\n The proposed changes come as other GOP-led states ramp up attacks<\/a> on tenure, including a ban on tenure at Oklahoma public colleges and universities.<\/a> But Wintemute said that the system’s proposed rule change \u201cis not a response to the current debate about faculty tenure\u201d and emphasized it only applies to the system’s two-year institutions.<\/p>\n Wintemute said that, at the request of system Chancellor Brian McCall, the colleges have operated for years with an informal practice of not granting tenure.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThe change formalizes what has been in practice for several years and ensures that these institutions are consistent in how they recruit and retain faculty,\u201d Wintemute, the system’s vice chancellor for marketing and communications, said in a statement.<\/p>\n Critics of the tenure system argue it allows low-performing faculty to have lifetime contracts, while supporters say it protects\u00a0academic freedom<\/a> by letting professors teach and research controversial topics without fear of political retribution. The practice is also meant to give faculty job security while they conduct research that can take years or even decades.<\/p>\n Some faculty say they have to meet rigorous standards to gain tenure, including for\u00a0teaching, research and service, which are supposed to be maintained afterwards.<\/p>\n Community colleges are more workforce-oriented and generally conduct less research than four-year universities. In Texas, many two-year institutions already don’t offer tenure.\u00a0The Alamo Colleges District<\/a> in San Antonio got rid of it in 2011, and in Greater Houston, tenure is not offered at Houston City College, Lone Star College or San Jacinto College.\u00a0<\/p>\n The community colleges within the Texas State University System have smaller shares of tenure and tenure-track faculty than the public universities, according to system data.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In addition to the 14 tenure-track faculty in fall 2025, the three Lamar colleges in southeast Texas had 64 tenured faculty that year, Wintemute said. That’s about 12% of the colleges’ 626 total faculty, compared with\u00a041% of Texas State University’s faculty who were tenured or tenure-track in fall 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tenure restrictions in\u00a0Texas\u00a0<\/p>\n Texas enforced new tenure policies for faculty in 2023, after faculty members successfully fought off a proposed ban over concerns that it would result in poor recruitment and retention, known as “brain drain.”<\/p>\n