ENTINEL North Idaho College's Student News paper
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Vol. 67 No. 10
Thu rsday, March 28, 1991 •
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Tenure woes result in frustration by L Freeman, 0. Beehnar and 0. Akers Smtintl Rtporrtn
Tenure is a StatUS which Insures academic freedom for instructors, according 10 a manual called Tenure: A Survn•al Kit. The North Idaho College tenure poticy has rcicently oomc under Ii.re by many faculty and ad· minismuors due to apparenr discrepancies that surfaced in recent rcnure application proa:cdings. According to the manual. tenure is a status granted to an instructor after a trial period, protecting him/ her from summary dismissal. The manual says that, at NIC, tenure is oo.scd oo the oompetcnc:e and prof~ionalism of a faculty member. For faculty members who receive tenure, lite procedure also has a reviewing process in place to insure quality instmction. According to NIC Tenure Commiuce Chair Mike Swaim. "One of the things t11e tenure process docs is protect instructors from whimsical firings. No one likes to be fired without some kind of cause." But the policy may nOI be perfect, and problems. recently discovered, do e,cist. "NIC hns a sound pr=, however, ir was not adhen:d to. People (adminimation and division chairs) dJdn't do the right thing.s at the right time," said David Lindsay, dean of stuclenis. Knowing t.hat the ball was dropped Lindsay said many people became frustrated. In the case of science instr11ctor Bill Richards, who was approved for tenure at the March 21 board of truStees meding. that approval was met with some objection. Communications major Sh111~1Kl'rac Johnston testified in an executive session 10 protest Richards' tenure renewal. "I told the truStecs that I thought the instructor should be placx:d on tenure advised Status and put on a year probation because he doesn't take his responsibilities as an iAAructor seriously," Johnston said. Specifically, Johnston cited an inslllllce when she said Richards was 35 minutes late for cJas.s because he wns in his office talking on t.he phone. She waited for 25 minutes and !.hen left. Richards then arrived and spent the remaining IS minuteS of class lecturing, she said. When the class met ngnin, Richards answered questions pertaining to the 15-minutc lecture with sarcastic oommenis 10 S1Uden1S who
Home again Instructor Jim Straub ret urns from Operation Desert Storm see story p. 7
ROLL ON - Student rollerbladers Russ Lamson and Jeff Lewerenz demonstrate their rollerbladlng skill by
s oaring off the sea wall. Please see related story on p. 16.