Interesting article in this morning’s Chronicle of Higher Education, Colorado Governor Proposes Standardizing the Tenure Process, a Possible Response to the Ward Churchill Controversy, by John Gravios:

Gov. Bill Owens of Colorado said in his State of the State address last week that he wants to establish statewide standards for granting tenure at public universities — a move that some Colorado professors see as a response to the controversy over Ward Churchill.

Mr. Churchill, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, came to be seen in the national news media as the quintessential professor run amok after it came to light that he had called some victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks "little Eichmanns" in an essay. Investigations of Mr. Churchill have since revealed that he received tenure without going through the standard review process, and the university has hired a consulting company to revamp its tenure policies….

Timothy McGettigan, president of the Faculty Senate at Colorado State University at Pueblo, said he thought the governor’s remarks were part of a larger effort to rein in academe in the state…. "Trying to develop statewide standards for tenure doesn’t make a lot of sense in Colorado because of the extraordinary differences between the state higher-education institutions," Mr. McGettigan said. "The responsibilities of faculty at the small state colleges do not compare in any very clear way to the responsibilities of faculty at the larger, flagship institutions."