CUE Debates Tenure Policies

Students and faculty members discussed student involvement in faculty tenure and promotion decisions at the Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) meeting yesterday.

Students at the meeting said they are concerned that student input is not adequately considered by academic departments when they make tenure decisions.

In particular, students said their opinions of Harvard junior faculty members have little, if any, role in the tenure process.

Students presently have no formal way to express their opinions on junior faculty members facing promotion, but professors at yesterday's meeting said many departments welcome unsolicited recommendations.

"Student opinions are taken into account to the degree they need to be taken into account," said Baird Professor of Physics Gary J. Feldman.

Students at the meeting said they are concerned that faculty do not always know the true range of student feelings about candidates for tenure because students overwhelmingly send favorable recommendation letters.

"We have never received an unsolicited letter which was not laudatory," Feldman said.

But Dean of Undergraduate Education and CUE Chair Lawrence Buell said departments often use CUE Guide rankings of a professor's teaching ability in making decisions, taking student opinion directly into account.

The faculty members at the meeting expressed anxiety that solicited student input about Harvard faculty who are seeking tenure could put external candidates at a disadvantage because of students' lack of contact with these scholars.

Although the students at the meeting said their input should have some weight in promotion decisions, the faculty insisted that the decision to grant tenure is based primarily on a professor's scholarly work, with teaching ability acting as a "modifier."

Despite the faculty's pronouncements on the tenure process, one student at the meeting said some departments allow students to take an active role in promotion decisions.

In the Fine Arts Department, two graduate students are chosen to serve on the search committee for tenure candidates. These two students collectively have one vote in the committee's final decision, the student said.

The committee reached no decision concerning student involvement in tenuring professors.

Other Issues

The committee also discussed the issue of grade inconsistency across sections due to the varying teaching styles and grading procedures of teaching fellows (TFs).

Students said these inconsistencies are most prevalent in Core courses and other courses with large enrollment.

But faculty members said that in large courses, TFs often grade exams in groups or meet at the end of the semester to smooth out deviations across sections.

"There is more conversation [among TFs and professors] about grading procedures than is obvious to students," one member of the committee said.

The committee did agree to issue a statement of concern about the non-uniformity of grading processes and to state specific expectations about grading to be solidified in the next meeting.

The committee also discussed reducing target section sizes from 20 to 15 students and increasing professors' involvement in the teaching of sections

"We have never received an unsolicited letter which was not laudatory," Feldman said.

But Dean of Undergraduate Education and CUE Chair Lawrence Buell said departments often use CUE Guide rankings of a professor's teaching ability in making decisions, taking student opinion directly into account.

The faculty members at the meeting expressed anxiety that solicited student input about Harvard faculty who are seeking tenure could put external candidates at a disadvantage because of students' lack of contact with these scholars.

Although the students at the meeting said their input should have some weight in promotion decisions, the faculty insisted that the decision to grant tenure is based primarily on a professor's scholarly work, with teaching ability acting as a "modifier."

Despite the faculty's pronouncements on the tenure process, one student at the meeting said some departments allow students to take an active role in promotion decisions.

In the Fine Arts Department, two graduate students are chosen to serve on the search committee for tenure candidates. These two students collectively have one vote in the committee's final decision, the student said.

The committee reached no decision concerning student involvement in tenuring professors.

Other Issues

The committee also discussed the issue of grade inconsistency across sections due to the varying teaching styles and grading procedures of teaching fellows (TFs).

Students said these inconsistencies are most prevalent in Core courses and other courses with large enrollment.

But faculty members said that in large courses, TFs often grade exams in groups or meet at the end of the semester to smooth out deviations across sections.

"There is more conversation [among TFs and professors] about grading procedures than is obvious to students," one member of the committee said.

The committee did agree to issue a statement of concern about the non-uniformity of grading processes and to state specific expectations about grading to be solidified in the next meeting.

The committee also discussed reducing target section sizes from 20 to 15 students and increasing professors' involvement in the teaching of sections