An effort to ban faculty tenure in public universities has failed in the Texas Legislature

The Texas A&M University campus. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wanted to ban faculty tenure at Texas public universities, and the Senate passed a bill to do so. On Saturday, senators instead voted in favor of a House version of the bill that preserves tenure. (Credit: Shelby Knowles/The Texas Tribune)

---

A year and a half ago, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick shocked the higher education world when he pledged to eliminate tenure for faculty at Texas public universities, a century-old practice that provides continuous employment so professors can teach without fear of political interference or retribution.