How I Lost My Job As A Tenured Professor
Where Does An Expert In A Dying Field Go Next?
It’s not easy for a tenured full professor to lose his job, but I may have done just that.
For tenured professors, the paths to getting sacked are few. You can commit a felony or lose your grip on sanity. You can demonstrate persistent incompetence and even then you are given years to turn things around. Or your chancellor can eliminate the department into which you are tenured.
This last one happened to me and my colleagues.
Let me explain. I teach at a small public university. Our enrollment dropped 25% over four years. My department did not cause that. But declining enrollments mean declining revenue: our tuition dollars fell, and state allocations are based on our enrollments. To address the deepening budget crisis, our new chancellor decided to cut four academic programs, including mine. I teach Classics, that is, Greek and Latin literature, language, history, and culture. I’ve taught at my university for 24 years. Next year could be my last.
Seize the day, indeed.
How are you? my friends ask. How do you feel?
The list is long. I feel angry. I feel sad. I feel a little scared. I feel a little betrayed. I try to feel a little hopeful that…
