photo by: Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector

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A bill that would threaten tenure protection of professors at the University of Kansas and other schools isn’t likely to become law this year, the state’s higher education leaders were told this week.

But don’t call the bill dead.

“It is blessed. It is not dead,” KU Chancellor Douglas Girod said Wednesday during a subcommittee meeting of the Kansas Board of Regents.

Girod and the presidents of other state universities were receiving updates on various bills before the Kansas Legislature when one presenter said the tenure bill — which addresses what type of job protections professors receive — was dead for the session.

Girod jumped in to say that’s not quite accurate. For one, the bill never was voted down by the Legislature. For another, there’s already lots of talk around the statehouse that work on the tenure bill was merely paused while its language is tweaked to ensure that it accomplished what legislators are seeking. There was significant support for the bill, even though it faces strong opposition from faculty members across the state, as well as from Girod and some other higher education leaders.

“We do have to recognize that it is coming back,” Shawn Naccarato, a government relations officer for Pittsburg State University, told a subcommittee of the Kansas Board of Regents at a meeting in Topeka on Wednesday.

Naccarato, who helps monitor higher education legislation for the Kansas Board of Regents, said there is growing concern in higher education circles about what the bill will come back as next year.

“It probably will look bigger in its scope,” Naccarato said.

He said there is a desire among some legislators for a bill to craft a very specific definition of what tenure for a professor entails. The bill proposed this year in the Kansas Legislature — HB 2348 — primarily focused on just one aspect of tenure at universities.

The bill makes clear that tenure could be offered to professors, but that it would not be a property right owned by any professor that receives the designation. That’s essentially a way to say professors couldn’t sue for damages if they have their tenure protections removed.

Tenure is a designation that university faculty members traditionally receive upon being promoted to a full professor at a school. The tenure designation makes it much more difficult for a university to end the employment of a professor, and higher education leaders long have touted the importance of tenure as a way to ensure that professors have the academic freedom to tackle topics that they deem important for their students.

The issue of university tenure has become a legal battle after Emporia State University used a temporary provision during the pandemic to terminate the contracts of several tenured professors. That action, which ESU leaders said was necessary to keep the university’s operations financially sound during the pandemic, led to a lawsuit where professors are suing for damages related to the decision to end their tenure. The case is ongoing, but a federal judge has declined to dismiss the suit against ESU because she has ruled that current Kansas law makes tenure a property right owned by a professor.

Several higher education leaders want to keep it that way, too. Girod testified against the tenure bill in February when a House committee was considering the matter. Girod said the law would so weaken tenure protection of professors that KU would have difficulty in attracting new professors and that existing professors would be tempted to leave the state for jobs in other states where tenure protection is more robust. Kansas State President Richard Linton also joined in testimony against the bill.

Some Kansas legislators — in addition to national GOP leaders — have expressed concern about higher education and their belief that faculty members have gone from teaching to “indoctrination.” Wednesday’s conversation at the Regents didn’t turn to what is driving the push for tenure changes in Kansas. Instead, the focus was on its status.

Naccarato revised his status of the bill from dead to “dormant” or “sleeping,” saying that he does think it is unlikely that the lawmakers will take any action on the bill before the legislature adjourns in late March.

“Our concern is what it is going to come back as next session,” he said.