Academic Freedom and Tenure: Yeshiva University

Published in the August 1981 issue of Academe.


The administration of Yeshiva University terminated the appointments of three faculty members, and suspended them from further teaching responsibilities upon issuance of notice to them, without having afforded them the safeguards of academic due process. The administration did not arrange suitable continuing assignments for the affected faculty members although such assignments appear to have been possible in two cases. The administration did little to seek suitable alternate positions for the faculty members elsewhere within the institution, particularly in the face of apparent opportunities for relocation. The Yeshiva University administration's failures in this regard indicate a lack of commitment to the rights which the three faculty members possessed under generally accepted principles of academic tenure.