On February 5, 2025, Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt issued an executive order that immediately eliminated tenure for new hires at the state’s public regional universities and community colleges and required faculty working at the state’s public research universities to undergo post-tenure performance reviews.
The executive order decreed that public regional universities and community colleges henceforth hire faculty under fixed-term contracts that may be renewed based on performance, student outcomes, workforce needs, and institutional service. While already tenured faculty at public regional universities and community colleges would not lose their tenured status, going forward, the order barred these institutions from granting new lifetime tenure appointments. The order permitted public research universities to continue appointing new faculty to tenured or tenure-track positions; however, these appointments would be subject to post-tenure performance reviews at least every five years and could be dismissed for “sustained failure to meet established performance standards.”
The order fits into a pattern of political and legislative actions across the country which may undermine academic freedom protections. This includes bills reducing faculty tenure protections, enabling increased state interference in academic decisions, and by restricting research, teaching or expression on a range of issues, such as diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, gender, gender identity, and other disfavored topics.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about an elected official taking unilateral action to weaken the protections offered by faculty tenure. Faculty tenure is a significant procedural safeguard for academic freedom and the production of public-facing knowledge, as it protects scholars pursuing new, innovative and potentially sensitive or controversial ideas from retaliation and loss of position. While state education officials may have the authority to revise tenure policies, they should do so in wide consultation with the higher education community and they have an obligation to ensure that any revisions do not erode protections for academic freedom. When such revisions are unilaterally decreed, they must be considered suspect and a threat to university autonomy, academic freedom and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/tenure/2026/02/05/tenure-eliminated-oklahoma-colleges
https://www.4029tv.com/article/oklahoma-professors-oppose-kevin-stitt-order-ending-tenure/70277999
https://www.sos.ok.gov/documents/executive/2168.pdf