Tenure

Tenure is an explicit and established policy of Purdue University. Its rationale resides in its effective safeguard of academic freedom, without which a university cannot fulfill its proper function. The maintenance of excellence in teaching, research and creative endeavors, and engagement activities requires an atmosphere of inquiry unfettered by external pressures. The investigations and judgments of faculty members should be determined solely by professional criteria, even if these investigations and judgments lead to unpopular and controversial findings. A faculty member should not be put into a position of compromising his or her professional judgment because of possible loss of employment. Tenure is thus a required safeguard of freedom in teaching, scholarship, research and creative endeavors, and engagement activities, which themselves are means toward scientific and humanistic achievements.

The acts of the Indiana General Assembly that grant operating funds to Purdue University for each biennium do so with the condition that the Board of Trustees of the University cannot make contracts or expend funds for any other purpose than that intended by each appropriation act. Thus, the essence of tenure at Purdue lies in the automatic renewal of employment contracts and must be a matter of University policy rather than a legal obligation. It is always subject to the availability of funds. In practice it has not been any less effective because of this.

Tenure policies may be found in Executive Memorandum B-48 dated July 1, 1977, and Academic Procedure Manual, page N-64.