The University's process of granting tenure should be very rigid. The faculty needs to continue to represent the most prestigious and qualified professors in the country, and rigorous criteria for establishing tenure is necessary to maintain this reputation. The process behind granting tenure should also continue to involve, to some degree, a qualitative content. Years of experience add to overall proficiency and should play a role in the decisions to grant tenure.
The decision to grant tenure to professors should also continue to be based on credentials such as prominence in their field of study. Recommendations from other field experts and a final evaluation by tenured professors at the University also are important.
There are many important criteria that reflect ability and dedication that should remain in consideration when tenuring professors, but there also are issues that are not as straightforward. The University must remember that racial and ethnic diversity is as important among the faculty as it is among the student body. It fuels greater breadth of thought, perspective and educational approach. It also re-emphasizes the importance of diversity across campus.
Failing to have tenured professors with diverse backgrounds limits the social advancement of the University as a whole. Not only could specific or narrow methods and views trickle down to the student body, but a less-diverse faculty could also provide a potential cycle that could hinder the quality of the University. The professors being reviewed for tenure are evaluated by already-tenured faculty members. Without diversity on the board of reviewers, concerns arise that the tenured faculty body will slowly become more and more homogeneous. As a result, the University could suffer due to a drop in the breadth of educational instruction and thought.
This of course, is a hypothetical outlook on the more drastic effects of ignoring diversity when considering tenure. University faculty must first find that an applicant for tenure meets the strenuous requirements and can perform at the level expected. The rest of the University community must also have faith in the board's ability to evaluate applicants and to award tenure where it is most deserved.
But it is important that the overall diversity of the faculty is considered when making tenure decisions. University students could suffer from a lack of diverse backgrounds. The faculty reflects the University as a whole, and plays an integral part in maintaining its reputation as an esteemed academic environment.