ABSTRACT
In the wake of student unrest and in the presence of strong competition for the diversion of funds to other national priorities, severe demands are being made for greater professional accountability and for greater efficiency in higher education. Tenure has been singled out as an obstacle to both of these goals and, consequently, as a blockade to educational progress. Tenure, accurately and unequivocally defined, lays no claim whatever to a guarantee of lifetime employment. The presumption of the tenured faculty members professional excellence thus remains rebuttable, exactly to the extent that when it can be shown that the individual possessing tenure has nonetheless fallen short. For many groups and individuals tenure has become a conveniently simple explanation for what they perceive as a variety of educational ills. University Professors reaffirms the association's commitment to tenure and insists upon its centrality as an enabling principle of American higher education.
