ABSTRACT
For what are typically the first six years of your academic career you will essentially be on probation, working towards obtaining tenure under some sort of continuing or renewable employment contract. If you are not awarded tenure by the end of that sixth year, your job is gone within a year and you have a limited set of options that include: (1) challenging the denial through the institution’s grievance process in hopes of obtaining tenure so that you may stay; (2) if you can prove that your employment rights were violated in the tenure process, you can file a lawsuit requesting the award of damages and a court order giving you the tenure status that you were denied; and (3) you can update your curriculum vitae and use your remaining year of employment to find a new position. Possessing a complete understanding of tenure and its processes is of critical importance to both your becoming tenured and deciding what you should do in the event that you do not.
