University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

System Defies Values

I would like to comment on
the recent decision of the
Department of English to deny
tenure to four of my colleagues
and on my own decision to
withdraw my name from
consideration for tenure. The
policy of our department is to
hire a large number of assistant
professors, of which only one
of two will ever be given
tenure.

Almost every tenured
faculty member in the
department has come from
outside the University. It is an
outstanding faculty and was
attracted here by the high
salaries and reduced work load
which the department's policy
toward assistant professors has
made possible.

By discarding rather than
promoting its assistant
professors the department is
able to maintain a constant
work force of eager young
professors. Each assistant
professor gives the department
five or six years of hard work
at a relatively small salary,
after which he is replaced by
an equally bright and eager
new assistant professor who
will give the department six
more years of hard work at the
same low salary.

The department has created
a system in which the
nontenured faculty virtually
work for the tenured. But
unlike similar situations in
other jobs there is no force
here equivalent to a labor
union to protect the workers
from being inhumanly
discarded.

There is something
inherently evil in a system that
exacts so much energy from its
assistant professors without
ever allowing them to enjoy
the fruits of their labor. When
you marvel at the fine
reputation the English
Department has built for itself,
I hope you will not forget that
it was done so at the expense
of the human beings it was
meant to serve and in defiance
of the human values it
professes to teach.