Hindery is a Ph.D. student in Geography. He does research on
social movements in the Bolivian Amazon and the social and
environmental effects of the international political economy.
By Derrick Hindery
How often do UCLA students fast and get arrested in the name of
education?
As those of you who were at UCLA last spring might recall, these
were some of the actions students carried out in an effort to
reform the tenure system and urge the administration to grant
tenure to geography professor Joshua Muldavin.
Clearly Muldavin’s case shows that the tenure process is
seriously flawed and needs to be changed. If the tenure process
were functioning properly, then how could UCLA not give tenure to a
professor who earned the most esteemed teaching award at the
university, and who was nominated by UCLA for the foremost national
teaching award?
The former state secretary of education recently asked Muldavin
to draft a paper on community service-based learning in higher
education, proving that he is an outstanding example.
The university argues Muldavin’s research record is not
worthy of tenure. But colleagues, graduate students and others
maintain his research is exemplary and unquestionably worthy of
tenure, as evidenced by his publications in leading books and
journals in geography and political ecology.
During negotiations last spring between the administration and
student activists, Chancellor Albert Carnesale acknowledged the
tenure system “is too opaque,” and that he is willing
to work with students.
Those are encouraging words. Now let’s follow through and
make sure a positive change in the university happens.
What’s wrong with the tenure system as it currently
stands? For starters, as Chancellor Carnesale recognized, the
tenure system is not transparent.
Furthermore, students have no decision-making power in the
process. If UCLA’s mission is to provide quality education to
its students, shouldn’t there be students who take part in
decisions regarding which professors teach at UCLA?
Yes, supposedly our teacher evaluations are read and
“taken into account” in the process, and graduate
students may occasionally serve on faculty-hire committees at the
departmental level, but this is a far cry from what we deserve.
There should be student representation at all levels, from the
departmental level to the Council on Academic Personnel.
As students, we witness faculties’ teaching skills on a
daily basis, and could contribute immense insight in this regard.
Graduate students work intimately with faculty on research, and are
well qualified to evaluate the quality of their work.
Shouldn’t the principle of shared governance extend to
students? There is an Academic Senate for faculty. What do students
have?
Supposedly, each professor who is up for tenure is evaluated
based on teaching, research and service.
Those of us involved in the campaign have had informal
conversations with scores of UCLA professors who emphatically admit
that the tenure review process is anything but apolitical, and that
research is given a disproportionately greater weight compared to
teaching.
Certainly, research is vital, but decisions to hire faculty who
are excellent researchers, yet poor teachers flies in the face of a
student’s right to receive a quality education.
How many bad teachers have you had at UCLA? Why did they get
hired, and Muldavin fired?
UCLA is an institution of higher education chartered to serve
students, not a think-tank like the RAND institute.
Student representation in the tenure process would increase
transparency and add checks and balances to prevent procedural
errors and political interference.
At this stage the campaign for quality education and tenure for
Joshua Muldavin may be a relatively small battle amidst bigger
systemic changes in education that are happening across the nation,
but there’s no reason why it can’t broaden into a
larger coalition.
We’ve all seen the rise in part-time instructors leading
our classes, working hard to teach with minimal resources, poor
benefits and pay, and limited job security in the UC system.
Is the proliferation of these low-quality, temporary teaching
positions good for the students of UCLA, occurring at the same time
that quality professors like Muldavin are being dismissed?
Yet, the deterioration of our educational system shouldn’t
drive us into apathy. It should compel us to stand up and join
together to confront such problems.
So come take part in a fight for the quality of your
education.