The Tennessee legislature proposed a bill on Feb. 9 that would end faculty tenure for public universities. The bill has been passed in the Tennessee senate and has two Republican sponsors. It would not just affect UT, but all other public universities in the state.

When someone mentions tenure, there can be confusion surrounding what exactly it is. The history of Tennessee tenure is complicated in itself.

In 2011, the “Race to the Top” law changed tenure requirements, requiring teachers and professors to attain “above expectations” or “significantly above expectations” on evaluations.

After 2011, under current laws, teachers with tenure can lose their status due to poor evaluation scores.

However, 2026 has brought potential changes. Senate Bill 1838 proposes taking tenure away permanently.

Tenure’s official definition is the probationary period of teachers, or in this case, professors, that protects them from being fired in a five to seven year period. When there is no tenure involved in the hiring process, professors are able to be fired for almost any reason.

This issue can be controversial, as many believe tenure protects professors who teach sensitive subjects in their classrooms or encourage debates on arguable topics.

Oklahoma is also facing this controversy. In early February, its legislature put into place an executive order designed to take away tenure from public universities. Two universities, the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, can still offer tenure as the only exceptions to this order, but they must instate five-year reviews.

The stated reason for this? To protect the university’s reputation.

The potential end of tenure is a major concern for many professors at UT, including Dr. Robert Kelchen.

“It would likely change who wants to go into faculty,” Kelchen said. “If the University of Tennessee is trying to compete against, say, Georgia or Vanderbilt, and they have tenure, it is more difficult for us to get top notch faculty,”

Marietta agrees with that sentiment.

“Without (tenure), dissenters would be punished or replaced,” Marietta said. “Whatever ideas have captured a majority position on campus would be unchallenged and locked in place.”

The bill is clear, stating it “must not allow the institutions governed by the board to confer any new tenure status on faculty members on or after July 1, 2026.”

As clear as it, the faculty senate of Tennessee also recognizes the concerns this may raise for faculty members.

“I want to add,” Charles Noble, president of the faculty senate, said, “that all interactions we have had with our campus administrative leaders have shown nothing but unequivocal support for the value of tenure for a thriving university such as ours.”

Kelchen agrees that tenure can be considered protection for professors, and without it, many potential hires could be put off by the fact the university does not offer tenure.

“If you can get a position with tenure,” Kelchen said, “you’ll take it as protection, even if you’re good and can probably get a job elsewhere.”

He believes that many “best-of-the-best” faculty would most likely turn down the option to work at UT if they could not be protected.

Tenure also helps protect professors from consequences if they make temporary mistakes.

“(Tenure) gives people the opportunity to try and innovate new things and fail because they’re not concerned about an immediate performance review,” Kelchen said.

There is an articulated reason behind why the senate is proposing this bill. With tenure, some argue that it becomes difficult to remove professors that may have been underperforming or become problematic.

“Some people think tenure is a bad idea because it allows professors to be lazy and act badly,” Marietta said. “It doesn’t protect faculty from violating the purpose of the profession by doing things like celebrating violence on campus.”

Many other bills in the United States are similar to the one Tennessee introduced just last week.

For example, in 2023, the North Dakota legislature introduced a bill giving presidents of universities more power to fire tenured faculty.

Although it did not pass, it took two years for a decision on the bill to be made.

However, no state has seen a bill be this clear or strict about taking away tenure from every public university.

As referenced in the Oklahoma bill, there could be an exception for large research schools, such as UT.

“Because there is pressure on tenure in other states,” Kelchen said, “there would probably be a pretty good chance that there would be a carve-out for UT Knoxville.”

Marietta believes that in the absence of tenure, there would be no risks or innovation, and professors would be scared to have tough conversations with students. Classes could face stagnation.

“Universities would be monochrome, boring and humorless,” Marietta said. “Tenure is crucial, and I am sure the legislature will see that.”