Although the law pertaining to tenure denial based on scholarship and teaching is well settled, legal issues governing faculty dismissal due to declining college enrollments are unsettled. This paper reviews tenure cases and explores tenure denial based on institutional need, anticipating development of a separate body of law. (72 references) (MLH)

In the summer 1996 issue of this journal, Donal M. Sacken analyzed 252 cases of administrator-initiated litigation arising from adverse personnel decisions. Chester C. Kent criticizes Sacken for specifically: (1) the indiscriminate mixture of involuntary demotions with demotions and terminations for cause; (2) creating a nontraditional format as a…

Discusses a U.S. Supreme Court decision involving public employers'"mixed motives" in discharging employees for constitutionally protected and unprotected reasons. Describes the Court's test to distinguish which reason was the dominant factor. (RW)

Argues that the test of employer motivation in firings used by the Supreme Court in the case of Mount Healthy City School District Board v. Doyle and by the National Labor Relations Board in its Wright Line decision is inappropriate when an employer's alleged anti-union animus is involved. (Author/RW)

Analyzes 240 First Amendment cases involving school administrator dismissals, focusing on each administrator's (alleged) behavior or situation leading to the court's decision. These cases disclose a substantial volume of behavior that is inexcusable, outrageous, self-destructive, and embarrassing. Many accounts illustrate the stress, ambiguities,…

Examines definition and history of tenure. Reviews reasons offered as justification for revoking tenure: universities are expensive to operate and growth of faculty must be contained; faculty remain in profession beyond time they should retire, and as they age, become less productive; tenure protects nonproductive individuals; and composition of…