What Are You (Not) Supposed to Do?
Junior faculty get a lot of unsolicited advice about how to get tenure, mainly in the form of many different don’ts. Don’t teach too much—I heard that often at UB. Don’t teach too well when you are starting out, so you can create the illusion of a positive trend right before tenure—I heard that too. Don’t try to lead a project involving senior faculty. Don’t work on a project if it might not produce a bunch of publications quickly. Don’t take on leadership roles in or work to improve the department. Don’t speak out on issues that you care about—better not to argue with anyone.This advice has a clear normative purpose. Tenure represents the last chance for an institution to impress its values on its faculty before it’s stuck with them for life. And, particularly for academics that have spent their entire lives pleasing a school in one way or another, the prospect of not getting tenure is scary. This is the last test that they’ll ever have to pass, so why not just keep doing what the teacher wants for a few more years? Plus, after you get tenure you can do anything you want—right?