Editorial: Hiring plan raises concern

Take a look at your professors now — they could be part of the estimated 100 retiring this year. While you might be happy to hear this, news of a hiring plan leaves us questioning how well the new professors will teach.

The university plans on having individual departments and deans decide whom they would prefer to hire and then they will get the administration’s approval to hire them. This sounds like a smart plan because the decision of who will become new lecturers won’t be outsourced to people who don’t have a clue how the department is run. If the department doesn’t select the candidates, there is no real way to tell if the new professor is going to teach the required material or mesh with the other professors’ teaching styles.

The problem with the plan is that The University of Toledo is probably looking into hiring lecturers who are not on the tenure track. It’s no secret — it costs less in the long run to hire potentially temporary lecturers rather than those who will become tenured. Tenured professors are paid more because they have been at UT longer and because they usually are involved in research that keeps them qualified and most capable in their field. And when those 100 most likely tenured professors retire, they will be replaced with others who are paid considerably less and are cheaper to maintain. Even Interim Provost John Barrett said it in last week’s front page story — by following this faculty hiring plan, UT is looking at saving around one million dollars.

Tenure is a controversial issue at universities for students, depending on who you ask. Most of us have stories about tenured professors who take advantage of their status, don’t effectively teach the material and expect you to know information that wasn’t covered in the notes, lecture or textbook for the exam. Some of our staff even recall having tenured professors who love to ramble endlessly about off-topic subjects during class time that we paid for.

As a result, we’re sure some students are excited to see some of these professors swapped out for new teachers who are more in tune with modern teaching styles. But is raising a crop of non-tenure-track professors the best option? Tenured professors are the ones who will stay rooted here until retirement, providing the university with knowledgeable first-hand experience and expertise in each field. Without them, how can the university maintain such a high academic profile?

On the other hand, the potential professors UT is looking into hiring might not be so prepared. Many of the professors who are interested in tenure won’t come here because it’s currently unclear if they will ever be granted tenure. In some cases, this could leave departments scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to find someone to work at the university. And those professors probably won’t be the worst, but they won’t be the best either.

So next year where does that leave we students? Well, it could mean sitting in class and hearing a rough lecture from a new professor who is just learning how to teach effectively and getting used to the UT classroom environment. But it could also mean being involved in office-hour conversations and answering questions in class because the new professor is able to spark participation.

The University of Toledo has both good and bad professors. Some are tenured and some are not. Whatever the outcome of the faculty hiring plan, we sincerely hope the deans and individual departments at UT understand how influential their hiring decisions will be for students, especially incoming freshmen in the fall. These decisions matter and deserve the utmost attention.