Z is for Zugzwang
by Alan MacEachern
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Illustration: Amanda Woodward
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This spring, The Walrus ran “Failure to Fail,” an article about “The search for the elusive LPFOCU – the Last Person to Flunk Out of a Canadian University.” Author Jay Teitel gleefully tells of being unable to find a single student who failed out. There were those who dropped out, who were put on probation, who took more years to finish, sure, but no one who was actually made to leave.
In chess, a player is in zugzwang if he is obliged to move, but any move will result in disadvantage or loss. Canadian university students, it would seem, exist in bizarro-zugzwang, where no move results in loss, where things always ultimately work out.
Mr. Teitel speaks to students, administrators and professors across the country to find out why no one is flunking. Students tend to interpret it cynically, that every lost student means a loss of tuition and government funds for the university. In that calculation, poor students are the most valued students of all because they stay around longer than good ones. Administrators suggest that grades for entering university are so high today that the vast majority of university students are intellectually capable of it – and if not, the university has difficulty admitting that it either made a mistake accepting the student or that the student got worse while there. Professors describe themselves as powerless: students increasingly act entitled to the degree, the administration fears lawsuits and their own future is dependent on positive course evaluations, which in turn is dependent on giving good grades.
This last argument – that professors are forced to be pushovers because of job insecurity – infuriates me. I have long heard tenure-track folk in particular voice a concern that they must constantly walk on eggshells around students (and colleagues, chairs, deans, other scholars, etc.) for fear of what poor teaching evaluations or a negative letter might mean to their case for promotion. Books such as the recent Canadian study Ivory Tower Blues, which Mr. Teitel cites, give credence to this view. James E. Côté and Anton L. Allahar quote an American researcher that “Stringent graders, by virtue of their low course enrolments and lower course evaluations, are less likely to receive tenure, salary increases and promotions. Professors know this and respond by raising their grades to meet student expectations.”
But this is a cross-border bait-and-switch, because Canadian academics have a dirty little secret: almost everyone gets tenure. We all know anecdotally that the tenure rate is a lot higher in Canada than it is in the United States. It is quite hard to find the actual statistics, though, perhaps because it’s not the sort of thing that either administration or unions care to trumpet. The University of Toronto, however, states that its tenure rate is over 95 percent, compared with 45 to 60 percent in comparable U.S. public research universities. And U of T is one of our strongest universities; the rate at others may well be higher.
I’m not arguing that the Canadian rate should be lower (now that I have tenure), or that people are getting tenure who don’t deserve it. I’m not arguing that faculty don’t face other pressures to pass students or inflate grades. I’m just arguing that for a Canadian academic to use fear of not acquiring tenure as an excuse for doing or not doing almost anything is an act of cowardice. It is disgraceful to mask privilege as persecution. We need to be honest enough to admit that if Canadian university students are in bizarro-zugzwang, so are Canadian professors.
Since getting tenure is simple, so are my top ten tips on getting tenure:
10. Get a tenure-track job.
9. Remember that nobody is an expert on getting tenure. If they went up once, their experience is unique. If they went up two or three times, you don’t want to listen to them.
8. In your first year, no matter how busy you are, say ‘yes’ to everything: invitations for coffee, nominations for committees, everything. You will learn a lot.
7. Tell no one that you’re saying ‘yes’ to everything.
6. Balance teaching, research and service. Balance is what got you here.
5. Update your CV whenever you accomplish anything. It keeps your tenure file organized and, more importantly, it’s encouraging.
4. Build a list of scholars who know and like your research.
3. Ask how you’re doing. If your university doesn’t provide a yearly pre-tenure meeting with your dean (it should), request one anyway.
2. Keep a written record of everything. If you’re so worried about getting tenure that you read a list of tips about it, maybe your file really is weak. So start building an appeal now. Or better yet, make your file stronger.
1. Don’t give tenure a thought. Just as getting a degree should be the least of a student’s accomplishments, so getting tenure should be the least of yours. Don’t let the need for tenure define these early years in any way. There are so many ways to fashion an academic career, so figure out which one you want, and make it happen.
Alan MacEachern is a professor of history at the University of Western Ontario.
