Regents committee OKs new tenure policy - Associated Press

A University of Wisconsin System regents committee overwhelmingly approved policy changes Friday that would allow chancellors to lay off tenured professors if their programs are cut and fire them for poor performance. The full Board of Regents is expected to consider the policy changes at a meeting next month. Critics contend the revisions would allow chancellors and regents to shrink programs to save money. Campuses could use the revisions to start cutting liberal arts programs to appease Republicans, who see the system as simply a giant job trainer, according to David Vanness, an associate professor of population health sciences at UW-Madison and president of the Madison chapter of the American Association of University Professors. "(The policy changes) are carefully crafted to look good in some places and hide land mines in others," Vanness said. http://www.wtmj.com/news/regents-committee-oks-new-tenure-policy