John Carroll University Faculty Consider 'Legal Avenues' In Tenure Fight

A majority of the professors at John Carroll University say they feel “betrayed” and “fearful,” after the university’s board of directors moved forward with stripping tenure protections from the employee handbook earlier this month and are considering legal options.

Faculty Council Chair and communications professor Brent Brossmann said he and other professors received their contract for the next academic year, which included the new handbook amendments allowing John Carroll to fire tenured faculty in the event the administration projects an annual budget deficit of 6 percent along with two additional years of budgetary “hardship.” 

“[The vast majority of JCU’s professors] tell me they feel betrayed. They tell me that they're fearful. They told me that they have to change the way that they do things because they're fearful,” Brossman said. “And none of that will be good for our students. None of it. It's not good for the education that we provide.”

Brossmann said the faculty’s attorney has reached out to the university’s attorneys and is trying to “set up opportunities for more consultation and discussion.”

“If that falls through, we’ll have to sit down and think about legal avenues,” Brossmann said. That would be the next thing. So we’re still hoping to be able to get to that negotiation stage. And that's what our attorneys are trying to help us get to right now.”

Faculty offered a counter-proposal, which would have kept tenure protections in place but offered other cost-cutting measures in the event of dire budget projections. But the board voted against those suggestions March 10, finalizing its decision to remove tenure protections at the 135-year-old private Catholic university.

“Faculty claim the budgetary hardship amendment eliminates tenure. This is not true. The budgetary hardship amendment continues to recognize and prioritize tenure and academic freedom as essential while also acknowledging current and future economic realities that impact everyone,” the board said in a statement after the vote. “There are strict limits on when and how the budgetary hardship amendment could be triggered, with detailed protections that prioritize tenured faculty, as they should be, given the important role tenured faculty play in academic excellence and supporting academic freedom in research, teaching, and service.”

Brossman sat down with some of the board members Wednesday during a quarterly committee meeting to discuss the university’s changes to the handbook. Brossman acknowledged that the board and university administration are worried about the overall “fiduciary health of the university.”

“[The board] is absolutely concerned that the market’s going to downturn again in 2026,” Brossmann said. “Research suggests that there will be less college-age students available, especially in the Northwest or Northeast of the United States and in the Midwest. And that will have ramifications. And so in many ways, they’re prepping themselves to be able to have the power.”

What Brossman objects to, however, is the board is looking to “redefine tenure to fit their goals and their needs as opposed to recognizing the existing definition.”

The faculty loves John Carroll University and doesn’t want to do anything to hurt the institution, he said, but ultimately, “we have to protect tenure.”

“That's part of what makes John Carroll, John Carroll.  That’s part of why the teaching at John Carroll is being rated first or second by U.S. News and World Report now for a couple of years, and the reason it’s always been highly rated,” Brossman said. “And if you take that away, that changes everything. And so that's what we’re trying to find, alternative solutions to our financial problems.”