FORT MYERS, Fla.
The narrow band of habitable land between the
Gulf of Mexico and Florida’s Everglades is where a band of 150 pioneers
have staked their claims.
But on this academic frontier in southwest Florida, one of the basic
foundations of American academia is out of favor. At Florida Gulf Coast
University (FGCU) – the nation’s youngest university – tenure is out
and multiyear contracts are in.
On opening day in late August, the only faculty with tenure or on a
tenure-track were the thirty who had transferred to FGCU after the
University of South Florida (USF) closed its Fort Myers branch to make
way for the new university.
It’s the other 120 faculty – those who moved to Fort Myers, often
from tenured jobs at established schools – who have taken the biggest
risk. They are accepting three- to five-year renewable contracts, and
they know that the United Faculty of Florida – the union that
represents them – isn’t ecstatic about their arrival.
Under pressure from the state Board of Regents to help reform tenure
at the state’s nine other universities, the union agreed to allow FGCU
to have multiyear contracts. But it doesn’t necessarily endorse the
idea, saying multiyear contracts may make it hard for the university to
attract and keep top faculty members because tenure remains popular
throughout academia.
“We decided an experiment [at FGCU] would be appropriate,” said
University of North Florida Professor Tom Mongar, the union’s
president. “But we’re going to go back and look at the results.”
