Restrictions on tenure and academic freedom have college professors eyeing the exits
Matt Krupnick | 19 December 2023 | Center for Public Integrity
This story was published in partnership with the Center for Public Integrity, a newsroom that investigates inequality.
College professors once regarded Wisconsin as one of the safest places to work, with the right to be tenured baked into state law. Then, in 2015, the state removed that right and sent dozens of instructors running toward the exits.
Karma Chávez was among those departures from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Like her, many of the people who left were people of color or queer. After the change, Chávez said she started looking for a new job in another state immediately and landed at the University of Texas, Austin, where she chairs the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies.