SCF trustees should undo their damage from elimination of tenure

The League of Women Voters takes a strong interest in education at all levels, since it is the backbone of personal and national advancement. Citizens who care about the future of our excellent community college should ask its Board of Trustees to rescind the recent actions that would negatively impact State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota.

Much has already been said about the tenure issue, but there were actually four detrimental actions:

The loss of tenure to future hires, which at SCF is simply "continuing contracts." Faculty can still be dismissed for poor job performance. This change would make SCF the only state college not offering this minimal job security to faculty who have served for a number of years and have proven their worth.

Require applicants for faculty positions to "bid" their salaries. According to the August meeting minutes, this would be "incorporating the principle behind bidding out a job."

Apparently, the board views hiring academic faculty to be no different than bidding out a construction project, with the lowest qualified bid most likely to get the job.

Reductions in faculty winter and spring breaks.

Moving the position of attorney to the board rather than the president, possibly threatening state accreditation for the college.

Ignoring the advice of SCF officials, the board voted without putting forward one shred of research or documentation showing that any of these changes were needed.

The quality of any college rests strongly upon the quality of its faculty. Hiring low-bid applicants and doing away with tenure will certainly not enhance the quality of the applicant pool, nor SCF.

We know what happens to colleges that get bad reputations: their degrees are devalued -- by both employers and universities. And the students who can't afford to go elsewhere will be affected the most.

Former SCF presidents and trustees are begging the board to rescind its vote, but they need to hear from the public.

You may email them all at board@scf.edu, and/or attend their next board meeting, on Oct. 27 at 5:30 p.m. at the SCF Lakewood Ranch campus, CiT Building, Selby Room 116. Ask the trustees to retain the current system that has given SCF its fine reputation as a high quality college for students and our community.

Rosalie Shaffer, a Bradenton resident, is president of the League of Women Voters of Manatee County.

This story was originally published October 20, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "SCF trustees should undo their damage from elimination of tenure ."