The boldest change yet

Hallowell lawyer Severin Beliveau is weighing in with some ideas of his own on restructuring the University of Maine System. In an opinion piece in the Maine Sunday Telegram, Beliveau offers perhaps the boldest idea yet on restructuring: abolish tenure.

A former trustee, Beliveau knows what he's proposing. And he likely realizes abolishing tenure is, well, an impossible idea to push through.

Abolishing tenure might be a way to rein in compensation costs at the seven-campus system, as Beliveau suggests.

That accomplishes one of the goals of those recommending changes for the university system as it attempts to stem a $43 million deficit over the next four years. If university employees don't agree to a pay freeze for the next two years, and if they're not willing to pay a greater portion of their health benefits, Vice Chancellor Rebecca Wyke has said the only other alternative is to eliminate 200 jobs systemwide.

But if Maine's universities attempt to abolish tenure, they're entering difficult territory.

The American Association of University Professors, the closest thing professors have to a union, holds tenure as a tenet of academia. Not only does tenure offer professors job security, the AAUP says tenure is key to cultivating an environment of academic freedom. Without the assurance of tenure, according to the AAUP, professors might feel pressure from their employers to withhold what might be unpleasant conclusions from their academic research.

That group, along with vocal Maine professors, is likely to weigh in on that battle, perhaps even in court.

David Flanagan, the man leading the task force charged with recommending major changes to the university system, has said the university system can't surrender any longer to the "institutional forces that would like to see the status quo maintained." And the report his task force published has some pointed recommendations.

You'll notice, however, the report doesn't broach the topic of tenure.

To say the least, it'd be a risky change to make.