AUSTIN, Texas — When he blew the whistle on a university dean suspected of financial malfeasance, college professor Jeff Blodgett had to weather a fierce attack from the dean’s allies. “If I didn't have tenure,” he recalled, “they would have done their best to get rid of me.”
Blodgett, who has taught at four universities and is now a marketing professor at the University of Houston-Victoria, survived that ordeal in the University of Illinois system more than a decade ago. Now in his 31st year in higher education, he is president of the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors, working with professors across the nation to preserve the institution of tenure itself.
The American Association of University Professors defines tenure as an “indefinite appointment” for college and university professors that can be terminated only for cause or under extraordinary circumstances, such as budget cuts or the discontinuation of a program.
