Statement on Tenure

Policy:                   STATEMENT ON TENURE

Effective date:        July 1, 2017

Review date:          July 1, 2023

Revised:                  

Responsible Party: Office of the Provost

1. TENURE AND ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Montana State University recognizes that a system of tenure is necessary to support academic freedom.  Academic freedom in teaching, scholarship and service is fundamental to the search for and advancement of knowledge and truth to further the common good. It also ensures the protection of a teacher’s freedom to impart knowledge and a student’s freedom to learn. The responsibility of the faculty and the university who both benefit from the tenure system is to advance the public good through teaching, scholarship, and service to students and broader communities.

Tenure provides faculty with the freedom to engage in teaching, scholarship, and service while allowing a sufficient degree of employment security in those pursuits. The tenure system establishes a faculty through continuity of existence and security of appointment where academic freedom is both fostered and protected.  The protections of academic freedom are extended to all members of the faculty during their terms of appointment both probationary and tenured. These rights are contingent on duties, as outlined in the MSU Faculty Handbook.