Legal Challenge to Arkansas's New Tenure Policy

Revisions to the University of Arkansas system’s tenure policy violate faculty due process rights in retroactively modifying contracts, according to a federal lawsuit filed Friday and first reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The lawsuit, filed by three faculty plaintiffs and seeking class action status, says that the new tenure policy makes it easier for tenured professors to be fired, including by using annual reviews as justification. "Under Arkansas law, both parties to a contract must consent to any changes to that contract," the lawsuit says. The system had no immediate comment on the case.