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From: cunningh@noscvax.UUCP (Robert P. Cunningham)
Newsgroups: net.misc,net.college
Subject: Re: Proposal to replace academic tenure
Message-ID: <632@noscvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Sep-84 04:46:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: noscvax.632
Posted: Mon Sep 24 04:46:41 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Sep-84 19:17:19 EDT
References: <166@inteloc.UUCP> <1244@elsie.UUCP>
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Replacing academic tenure with limited-term contracts might well cost
some universities some of their professors who are foreign nationals.

Basically, in order to apply for a permanent visa, a
non-national in the U.S. must have indefinite or permanent employment.
An employment contract with a definite term is, technically, a
violation of that condition.

Thus, a foreign national offered an employment contract in lieu of
tenure would not qualify for a permanent visa, and would have to
settle for a temporary "H-1" visa (one year, but renewable).
This would probably discourage a considerable number of well-qualified
people.

Recently, this situation has come up at the University of Hawaii.
Besides being an "equal opportunity" employer of faculty, the
University has a policy of picking applicants according to their
qualifications, regardless of where they are from.

The usual practice at UofH is to offer faculty members it hires for
possible permanent employment a 10-year tenure track - making them
eligible for tenure and permanent status after 5 years (although 10
years is actually nearer the actual time it takes...and after 10
years, if not granted tenure, they are asked to leave).  All
non-tenured faculty work under successive one-year contracts as
temporary hires.

At the moment, there are roughly 60 foreign faculty members working on
this pre-tenure track.  The Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS) has recently pointed out that the H-1 visas are only renewable
once (or at most twice, under various circumstances), and not -
legally - for the 4-5 or more years some faculty members need to stay
on the track.  Nonetheles, INS has been renewing the visas...but their
latest interpretation of the law indicates that they legally cannot
any more.

Of course, the law could be changed....