Tenure approved for college faculty

Tenure has been approved for four Northern Wyoming Community College District faculty.

Action came during the meeting earlier this week of the district’s trustees. Dr. Walt Tribley, who’s president of the college district, said contrary to what many of the general public believe, tenure isn’t a clause that allows a faculty member to do whatever he or she wants without fear of being fired.

Instead, he said, tenure is something that a faculty member earns by virtue of his or her excellence.

Dr. Tribley said the faculty members of a college are truly the college’s institution-builders. He said the quality of an institution is based on the quality of its faculty, and the college stands on their shoulders.

He said tenure is an aspect of making sure those shoulders are as broad and as strong as possible.

He said tenure allows the faculty within their discipline of expertise to be sure that the curriculum is rich and deep and broad in those areas. In that regard, he said, tenure isn’t a card that allows a faculty member to talk about matters outside of their discipline in a class.