Ray Pickett Signs on to House Bill Eliminating Tenure at All NC Colleges and Universities

 

Pickett

Rep. Ray Pickett (R, Blowing Rock) became a primary sponsor of House Bill 715, which seeks (among other things) the elimination of all faculty tenure in all state-owned colleges and universities. Pickett's 93rd House district includes Appalachian State University.

Also listed as a primary sponsor ... Rep. Destin Hall of Caldwell County, who represents Watauga's Blue Ridge precinct.

The bill would reduce all faculty employment to either at-will assignments or to limited term contracts of one, two, three, or four years.

The bill also targets faculty research, demanding "cost-benefit analysis" for all "non-instructional research" being undertaken by any faculty. "Cost-benefit" is mischief masquerading as some sort of economic measurement of what good comes from research of any kind. If you're into, say, the status of women in ancient Aegean cultures, the cost-benefit analysis may put you on the outs with Ray Pickett and others who think (?) like him.