Investigating tenure controversies: Basing faculty promotion on flawed variables doesn’t help the selection of competent academics.

Controversies regarding whether tenure encourages a culture of incompetence have led many US institutions to tighten up their decision making procedures. But many of these attempts to repair the system reflect little empirical research. In response, John Rothgeb conducted two large scale surveys across political science departments to investigate the variables that most affect the probability of denial of tenure and probability of incompetence at various US universities. The findings suggest that changes to the evaluations system are needed. But it is important to remember that tenure still remains vital to encouraging cutting-edge research.