As Republican Gov. Scott Walker prepares to campaign for president as the man who tamed Wisconsin’s unions, he’s taking on a new labor fight: weakening tenure protections for professors at public colleges and universities.

Walker insists that by allowing the University of Wisconsin system Board of Regents, 16 of whose 18 members are appointed by the governor, to set tenure policies instead of having tenure protections spelled out in state law will help give the state university system more flexibility and financial leverage.


His effort could endear him to conservatives who are scornful of what they view as higher education’s ivory tower — a perception Walker has encouraged by suggesting that “maybe it’s time for faculty and staff to think about teaching more classes and doing more work” — but it has infuriated academics and others who consider tenure a vital protection of academic freedom.

“After lots of hammers, this seems to be like a large mallet,” said James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association.

Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor of education policy studies and sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, goes so far as to suggest Walker is grandstanding for the national electorate, trying to win over the far right by stomping on professors: “He’s making an example of people in his state. … If he wasn’t running for president, he wouldn’t be doing this,” she said.

Indeed, Walker and his critics see parallels between his new effort to cut back on tenure and the 2011 initiative to strip away the protections of public union workers, including K-12 teachers, that propelled him to the national stage.

Much of Walker’s credibility on the right comes from his tough stance against public employee unions — and his ability to withstand a Big Labor-fueled recall effort in a state that’s far from the nation’s most conservative. Taking on public-university faculty, another group that is often at odds with conservatives over both educational priorities and workplace conditions, can only enhance his standing as a governor willing to take on liberal special interests.

Grossman said changing tenure protections is really about controlling academic freedom. Walker’s action comes at an especially difficult time in higher education after deep cuts in state funding and other efforts to thwart faculty control, such as a bill in North Carolina that would mandate that faculty teach a set number of classes, he said.

Walker’s effort is part of a plan to “transform higher education for the future by empowering leaders, protecting taxpayers, and promoting long-term stability,” said his press secretary, Laurel Patrick, in an email.

Earlier this year, Walker said told a radio station while discussing his proposal that “maybe it’s time for faculty and staff to start thinking about teaching more classes and doing more work.” And Walker has defended his proposal by noting he has a child enrolled in the University of Wisconsin, so he has a vested interest in ensuring his plan works well.

Simple economics makes limiting tenure protections appealing. Colleges and universities overall have seen enrollment decline in recent years, and as students’ choices in majors shift, it’s financially advantageous to be able to cut positions.

Walker introduced the tenure issue in a budget proposal that included $300 million in cuts over two years and significant restructuring.

A GOP-led legislative committee approved the tenure change. It also approved a measure that would modify state law to specify that Regents can terminate faculty when it’s deemed necessary because a program has been discontinued or changed in other ways, not just when a financial emergency exists — the way it’s spelled out under state law. It didn’t give Walker all he wanted, and it reduced the cuts from $300 million to $250 million.

It’s widely expected that the changes will be approved by the full Legislature, which is in session until June 30 or whenever a budget is passed.

Already, the Regents Board has passed a resolution to adopt the tenure language as it stands in current state law. A tenure task force is reviewing the policy, including the handling of layoffs, and is expected to provide a report next April.

Wisconsin’s system is rare in that tenure protections are written into state law. Typically, tenure policy is determined by an institution or a state board.

Labor leaders and the higher education community are closely watching to see if other politicians follow Walker’s lead.

“I don’t think it’s an immediate threat elsewhere, but it’s still a big concern,” said Mark F. Smith, senior policy analyst at the National Education Association, which has slightly less than 200,000 higher education members.

David Bergeron, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, said he expects more such fights in upcoming years.

“I think that this is just part of the evolution of attacks on … public benefits and on public sector employees of all sorts,” Bergeron said.

Supporters of tenure protections say providing that job security helps universities attract and retain high-quality faculty. Much of it is about academic freedom and professors’ ability “to speak on matters of public concern,” said Rudy Fichtenbaum, president of the American Association of University Professors. Members of his organization recently passed a resolution saying it shared “grave concerns” being voiced “throughout the world of higher learning” about the actions in Wisconsin.

Obtaining tenure status at the college level typically requires intensive years of research and publishing and is difficult to achieve. That’s different than in K-12 systems, where historically in many states teachers only had to teach for a set period of time before making tenure — without having to show their students were learning.

That’s shifted as states have made it more strenuous for K-12 teachers to obtain tenure status and a few states have taken it away altogether.

Already, there are fewer tenured faculty members today in higher education than 10 years ago.

Nationally, about 51 percent of public institutions had a tenure system in the 2013 school year, down from 59 percent a decade earlier, according to federal data.

State leaders “have often had a skeptical view of tenure and the purposes that it serves, but it’s such a central part of employment for high quality faculty and scientists that it’s hard to imagine a lot of other states will move against it,” said Terry Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council on Education.

Allie Grasgreen contributed to this report.