Lawsuit challenges University of Arkansas tenure policy
Revisions in the University of Arkansas tenure policy that many faculty believe serve as a curb on free speech were challenged in a federal lawsuit filed Friday.
The class action suit is led by Dr. Philip Palade, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; Dr. Gregory Borse, an associate professor of English and philosophy at the University of Arkansas at Monticello; and J. Thomas Sullivan, a distinguished professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law. Attorneys for Plaintiffs are Joseph W. Price II and Brittany Ford with Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull in Little Rock.
Here’s the full lawsuit.
In short, says a news release, the suit says July changes in promotion, tenure and faculty review rules expanded the grounds for discipline and termination. This placed a limit on academic freedom and altered vested contract rights, it says.
The suit says that an expanded definition of cause for firing or discipline gives nearly “limitless authority” to the UA Board and administration.
Read more: https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2019/06/01/lawsuit-challenges-university-of-arkansas-tenure-policy
