Editor’s Note: This article raises important questions about job security and workplace protections that extend well beyond the walls of a university. While the debate over faculty tenure is significant, it is worth pausing to consider the broader context in which it exists: Tennessee is a right-to-work state, where most employees across nearly every industry can be terminated at any time, for almost any reason, with little to no formal protection.

Tenure is, in many ways, a rare exception to that reality. And I say that not as an abstract observation, but as someone who has lived the alternative my entire working life.

I started my first job at the Omni Hut restaurant in Smyrna when I was 13, hired by Major James “Jim” Walls — a man whose work ethic made a lasting impression on me.

I was fortunate to live next door to Major Walls and his wife, Sally, whom I considered mentors. Many evenings, I would ride with Major Walls to work for my 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. shift, and other times I walked the mile myself — often along the railroad tracks. From there, I worked at Morrison’s Restaurant, Taco Bell, and eventually Whirlpool Corporation, where I spent some of my days on an assembly line lifting about 35,000 pounds daily, pulling dehumidifier units off a nonstop conveyor belt. There were no job protections, no appeals process, no complaint department and certainly no tenure. You produced, or you didn’t have a job. It was that simple.

”It is often said, that Major James Walls and wife Sally Walls helped more people in Smyrna get their first jobs than anyone,” said Mike Sparks

At Coca-Cola Bottling, the same standard applied. I took pride in running the most efficient route they had — not because someone was protecting my position, but because performance was the only currency that mattered. When I joined Nissan Auto Assembly at 26, that culture was made crystal clear.

Plant CEO Jerry Benefield was known for telling under-performers exactly where they stood: “If you can’t hack it, get your jacket.” Meaning, go home. No grievance process. No tenure review board. Just results.

I worked at Nissan until I was 33, and I can tell you that the discipline and accountability that environment demanded shaped everything about how I approach work and life. It’s the same ethic my late father — a World War II veteran — instilled in me long before I ever punched a time clock.

For most Tennesseans — whether they work in retail, healthcare, manufacturing, or the service industry — the kind of job security that tenure provides is simply not available. I will argue that today’s generation, for the most part, has not been asked to meet the same standard of raw, unprotected productivity that many of us knew as young workers. That is not entirely their fault, but it is worth saying plainly.

That is not to suggest tenure serves no purpose. The protections it affords — academic freedom, the space to challenge ideas, the room to innovate without fear of immediate reprisal — can serve a genuine public good. But it is worth asking whether the academy has, over time, allowed those protections to drift from a shield for bold thinking into a shelter from accountability.

I applaud both legislative sponsors Rep. Jason Zachary and Rep. Justin Lafferty for bringing this conversation forward. It is a debate Tennessee needs to have. And while reasonable people can disagree on where the line should be drawn, I believe the standard that governed my working life — and the lives of countless Tennesseans before and after me — is not an unreasonable place to start.
Then again… If you can’t hack it, get your jacket.
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Originally Published in The UT Beacon

Without tenure, UT professor Morgan Marietta says universities could become “monochrome, boring and humorless.”

The Tennessee legislature proposed a bill on Feb. 9 that would end faculty tenure for public universities. The bill has been passed in the Tennessee senate and has two Republican sponsors. It would not just affect UT, but all other public universities in the state.

When someone mentions tenure, there can be confusion surrounding what exactly it is. The history of Tennessee tenure is complicated in itself.

In 2011, the “Race to the Top” law changed tenure requirements, requiring teachers and professors to attain “above expectations” or “significantly above expectations” on evaluations.

After 2011, under current laws, teachers with tenure can lose their status due to poor evaluation scores.

However, 2026 has brought potential changes. Senate Bill 1838 proposes taking tenure away permanently.

Tenure’s official definition is the probationary period of teachers, or in this case, professors, that protects them from being fired in a five to seven year period. When there is no tenure involved in the hiring process, professors are able to be fired for almost any reason.

This issue can be controversial, as many believe tenure protects professors who teach sensitive subjects in their classrooms or encourage debates on arguable topics.

Oklahoma Governor Nixes Tenure At Most Of The State’s Public Colleges

Oklahoma is also facing this controversy. In early February, its legislature put into place an executive order designed to take away tenure from public universities. Two universities, the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, can still offer tenure as the only exceptions to this order, but they must instate five-year reviews.

The stated reason for this? To protect the university’s reputation.

The potential end of tenure is a major concern for many professors at UT, including Dr. Robert Kelchen.

“It would likely change who wants to go into faculty,” Kelchen said. “If the University of Tennessee is trying to compete against, say, Georgia or Vanderbilt, and they have tenure, it is more difficult for us to get top notch faculty,”

Marietta agrees with that sentiment.

“Without (tenure), dissenters would be punished or replaced,” Marietta said. “Whatever ideas have captured a majority position on campus would be unchallenged and locked in place.”

The bill is clear, stating it “must not allow the institutions governed by the board to confer any new tenure status on faculty members on or after July 1, 2026.”

As clear as it, the faculty senate of Tennessee also recognizes the concerns this may raise for faculty members.

“I want to add,” Charles Noble, president of the faculty senate, said, “that all interactions we have had with our campus administrative leaders have shown nothing but unequivocal support for the value of tenure for a thriving university such as ours.”

Kelchen agrees that tenure can be considered protection for professors, and without it, many potential hires could be put off by the fact the university does not offer tenure.

“If you can get a position with tenure,” Kelchen said, “you’ll take it as protection, even if you’re good and can probably get a job elsewhere.”

He believes that many “best-of-the-best” faculty would most likely turn down the option to work at UT if they could not be protected.

Tenure also helps protect professors from consequences if they make temporary mistakes.

“(Tenure) gives people the opportunity to try and innovate new things and fail because they’re not concerned about an immediate performance review,” Kelchen said.

There is an articulated reason behind why the senate is proposing this bill. With tenure, some argue that it becomes difficult to remove professors that may have been underperforming or become problematic.

“Some people think tenure is a bad idea because it allows professors to be lazy and act badly,” Marietta said. “It doesn’t protect faculty from violating the purpose of the profession by doing things like celebrating violence on campus.”

Many other bills in the United States are similar to the one Tennessee introduced just last week.

For example, in 2023, the North Dakota legislature introduced a bill giving presidents of universities more power to fire tenured faculty.

Although it did not pass, it took two years for a decision on the bill to be made.

However, no state has seen a bill be this clear or strict about taking away tenure from every public university.

As referenced in the Oklahoma bill, there could be an exception for large research schools, such as UT.

“Because there is pressure on tenure in other states,” Kelchen said, “there would probably be a pretty good chance that there would be a carve-out for UT Knoxville.”

Marietta believes that in the absence of tenure, there would be no risks or innovation, and professors would be scared to have tough conversations with students. Classes could face stagnation.

“Universities would be monochrome, boring and humorless,” Marietta said. “Tenure is crucial, and I am sure the legislature will see that.”