Introduces the issue's Symposium on Academic Freedom and Responsibility. Discusses the current debate on tenure and its role in securing and promoting academic freedom. Proposes a model "Academic Freedom Policy and Procedures," to which subsequent articles in the issue (by Robert M. O'Neil, J. Peter Byrne, and Richard T. De George)…

Agrees that Martin Michaelson's proposal in "Should Untenured as Well as Tenured Faculty Be Guaranteed Academic Freedom? A Few Observations" deserves study as an alternative to the current system of tenure and might be useful because it affords more scrupulous procedures for personnel judgments about new faculty. Asserts that anything…

Asserts that Martin Michaelson's proposal in "Should Untenured as Well as Tenured Faculty Be Guaranteed Academic Freedom? A Few Observations," despite its good intentions, is seriously flawed and if adopted in preference to existing standards will weaken rather than strengthen academic freedom. (EV)

Asserts that part-time faculty cannot enjoy as full a protection for academic freedom as do full-time faculty, let alone faculty with tenure, because they are too removed from the system of peer review. Clarifies the nuances of difference in the academic freedom available to part-time faculty and suggests procedures for its protection. (EV)

The 1978 amendments of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act tenure exemptions are discussed. The question of whether faculty members now serving in nontenured capacities can be dismissed on the basis of age is examined. A rebuttal to an article by Stuart H. Bompey is included. (MLW)

Court decisions regarding appointment, renewal, and termination of nontenured faculty members are reviewed with the conclusion that if further incursion of the courts into the internal affairs of universities is to be avoided both faculty and administrators should reexamine and change policies and procedures to comply with current court decisions.…

Existing regulations, case law, and limited legislative history indicate that an institution can continue to employ faculty without tenure after age 65. However, once tenure is removed, the faculty member is entitled to all the protection of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. (MSE)

Nontenured faculty's claims to tenure as a property right, by virtue of common law principles, are examined from historical and litigation perspectives. The common law analysis proposed is applied to employment relationships in private and public institutions. (MSE)

The McLendon decision compelled the state legislature to provide unprecedented procedural protection to untenured faculty in dismissal processes. The institutions can take precautionary measures in hiring faculty, but it is questionable whether many faculty will risk litigation in any case. (MSE)

Argues that judicial deference to a university's denial of tenure based on an allegedly unclear accent may be unjust. Discusses: (1) the usual tenure process; (2) Title VII action and academic deference; (3) evidence that inherent bias against accents in the classroom hurts non-white instructors; and (4) proposed action for courts and…