University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — Faculty groups and administrators at the University of Nebraska lined up Tuesday to oppose a legislative proposal to end faculty tenure, with many saying it could handicap NU.
State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City. Feb. 13, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
State Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City, who introduced Legislative Bill 1064 , said he feels the “pendulum” has swung too far toward protecting professors instead of students and away from merit and performance. His bill would eliminate tenure as an option for faculty in NU and the Nebraska State College System, as well as community colleges that don’t currently offer it.
Lippincott said his goal is not to stifle academic freedom but to put benchmarks in place and allow for more transparency. He offered a comparison between higher education and a farm.
“A lot of these horses plowed the field very straight when they were young and they were earning their tenure,” Lippincott told the Legislature’s Education Committee. “But then those horses ended up staying in the barn and just simply eating hay.”