The Glass Ceiling for Women in Legal Education: Contract Positions and the Death of Tenure

Journal of Legal Education

Volumn 50, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 1-15

  Angel, Marina ^a  

^a TEMPLE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

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EID: 0034409320     PISSN: 00222208     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
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References (91)

1. See Marina Angel, Professionals and Unionization, 66 Minn. L. Rev. 383, 387-88 (1982).
2. Women in Legal Education: What It's Like to Be Part of a Perpetual First Wave or the Case of the Disappearing Women, 61 Temple L. Rev. 799, 840 (1988).
3. See Michael A. Riccardi, Award Winner. City Firms Lack Diversity, Legal Intelligencer, Oct. 11,1996, at 1, 10.
4. Who'll Win Vice Chancellor Race? The Legal Intelligencer, Dec. 2, 1996, at 1.
5. This pattern has been noted by others. For example: When "feminization" has occurred in the past, notably in elementary school teaching, the result has been a loss for the occupation in pay and status. Women move into male territory only to find that its occupants abandon it rather than share it with women, and they take their privileges with them. In such situations, female failure becomes a consequence of female success. A feminist journal of the 1970s summed up this dynamic: "Women Get a Ticket to Ride After the Gravy Train Has Left the Station." Ann Douglas, Ivory Tower Crashing the Top (visited Oct. 12, 1999) at Index 2.
6. See Robert F. Seibel, Do Deans Discriminate? An Examination of Lower Salaries Paid to Women Clinical Teachers, 6 UCLA Women's L.J. 541, 542 & n.2 (1996).
7. Similar findings were reported by Robert Seibel, who conducted detailed surveys over multiple years. See id. at 542-47. "In each category, whether by rank or by years since graduation from law school, women were paid less than men. In addition, the data reflects a pattern of job segregation: the greatest number of women clinical faculty were clustered in the lowest paid and least secure category." Id. at 544. He concluded, "The evidence does not justify the differentials on the basis of productivity or career interruptions." Id. at 561.
8. "In 1950, about half (or 54) of the head librarians of the nation's law schools were women. ⋯ [V] irtually none of these women taught any courses other than legal bibliography or legal research and writing." Donna Fossum, Women Law Professors, 1980 Am. B. Found. Res. J. 903, 903. Shirley Bysiewicz, the law librarian at the University of Connecticut, started the Legal Research and Writing Committee of the AALS and did much of the early research on the status of women in law teaching. She was one of the first, if not the first, law librarians to make the switch into a tenured position and full-time teaching.
9. See Maureen J. Arrigo, Hierarchy Maintained: Status and Gender Issues in Legal Writing Programs, 70 Temple L. Rev. 117,131-36 (1997).
10. See Jo Anne Durako et al., Association of Legal Writing Directors/Legal Writing Institute, 1999 Survey Results [hereinafter ALWD/LWI Survey] ; see also Jo Anne Durako, Snapshot of Legal Writing Programs at the Millennium, _ Legal Writing _ (2000); Jo Anne Durako, Stop the Presses: Gender Differences Discovered in the Legal Writing Field, _ Scribes J. Legal Writing _ (2000).
11. All references to statistics in this paragraph are to ALWD/LWI Survey, supra note 10, Appendix A, at 2, Question 14.
12. Universities have long bestowed upon women lesser titles than they deserve. Sola Mentschikoff, a driving force in the creation of the Uniform Commercial Code and later the dean of the University of Miami School of Law, was a "professorial lecturer" at the University of Chicago from 1951 to 1962. Her last year at Chicago, she was granted the title of professor. See Angel, supra note 2, at 808 n.49 (citing AALS directories from 1951-52 through 1963-64). Service on faculty committees is a sign of status within the law school hierarchy. All of the male directors served on faculty committees; 11 percent of the female directors did not. See ALWD/LWI Survey, supra note 10, at Appendix A, at 2, Question 28. Teaching courses beyond the first-year writing course is similarly a sign of status; 84 percent of the male directors taught such courses, but only 59 percent of the female directors did. See id., Question 20.
13. All references to statistics in this paragraph are to the ALWD/LWI Survey, supra note 10, Appendix A, at 1-2, Question 15. Salary figures for directors are current salaries.
14. All references to statistics in this paragraph are to the ALWD/LWI Survey, supra note 10, Appendix A, at 4, Question 39. The salary figures for legal writing teachers are the entry-level salaries and the range of salaries paid to current teachers.
15. 137 U. Pa. L. Rev. 537 (1988).
16. Angel, supra note 2, at 804.
17. Chused, supra note 15, at 548.
18. See id. at 552.
19. Id. at 554.
20. See id. at 553.
21. Id. at 556, Table 2.
22. Barriers to the Sex and Race Integration of Law Academia: Processes of Ghettoization and the Revolving Door (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1999) (on file with author).
23. Are Women Stuck on the Academic Ladder? An Empirical Perspective, in AALS Workshop for Women in Legal Education: Getting Unstuck Without Coming Unglued 21 (1999).
24. See McBrier, supra note 22, at 7.
25. See id. at iv, 206, Table 6.1.
26. See id. at 243.
27. See id. at 231.
28. See id. at iv.
29. See id. at 250-51; see also Merritt, supra note 23, at 21.
30. See Seibel, supra note 6, at 557-59.
31. See Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, American Bar Association, Official ABA Guide to Approved Law Schools, eds. Rick L. Morgan & Kurt Snyder (New York, 2000) [hereinafter ABA Guide]; Richard A. White, AALS Statistical Report on Law School Faculty and Candidates for Law Faculty Positions 1997-98 (visited Oct 11, 1999) .
32. See Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, American Bar Association, Official ABA Guide to Approved Law Schools, eds. Rick L. Morgan & Kurt Snyder (New York, 2000) [hereinafter ABA Guide]; Richard A. White, AALS Statistical Report on Law School Faculty and Candidates for Law Faculty Positions 1997-98 (visited Oct 11, 1999) .
33. Rick Morgan provided me with the ABA statistics from 1988 to 1998. Letters from Rick Morgan to Marina Angel (Aug. 18 & Aug. 24, 1999) (on file with author).
34. See White. supra note 31, at Table 1A.
35. See Angel, supra note 2, at 840.
36. See White, supra note 31, at Table 1A.
37. Marina Angel, Uncloaking Law School Hiring: A Recruit's Guide to the AALS Faculty Recruitment Conference, 38 J. Legal Educ. 345 (1988) (with Don Zillman, Jan Laitos, George Pring, and Joseph Tomain).
38. See Denise K. Magner, The Graying Professoriate, Chron. Higher Educ., Sept. 3, 1999, at A18.
39. See White, supra note 31, at Table 4.
40. See id. at Table 6A.
41. See id.
42. See id. at Table 7B.
43. See id. at Table 8B. This is particularly disturbing, because the register is for a national market, although candidates can indicate a regional preference. The women in the register would seem to be those least limited by geography. It is generally assumed that the titles assistant professor, associate professor, and professor denote tenured or tenure-track status. See, e.g., Deborah J. Merritt et al., Family, Place, and Career: The Gender Paradox in Law School Hiring, 1993 Wis. L. Rev. 395, 398 & n.11. This assumption may not be valid in the future. For example, the Temple law school has approved contract legal writing teachers with assistant, associate, and full professor titles.
44. See White, supra, note 31, at Table 4.
45. See White, supra note 31, at 2 (describing Table 4). Deborah Merritt reports similar findings. Between 1989 and 1991, 62 percent of the men who began teaching at law schools were hired for tenure-track positions, but 58 percent of the women were hired for non-tenure-track positions. See Merritt, supra note 23, at 21.
46. "Nova Southeastern has no tenure outside the Law Center." The Nova law school has university approval to make one tenure-track replacement hire, but other new hires may not be tenure-track. E-mails to author from Gail Levin Richmond, associate dean for academic affairs, Nova Southeastern University Law Center (Oct. 27 & 28, 1999) (on file with author).
47. See Angel, supra note 2, at 801.
48. See White, supra note 31, at Table 1A.
49. Letter from Wendy Davis, assistant to the assistant dean of career services, Georgetown Law Center, to Marina Angel (Oct. 12, 1999) (on file with author).
50. See White, supra note 31, at Table 1A.
51. See Robin Wilson, Contracts Replace the Tenure Track for a Growing Number of Professors, Chron. Higher Educ., June 12, 1998, at A12; Courtney Leatherman, Growth in Positions Off the Tenure-Track Is a Trend That's Here to Stay, Study Finds, Chron. Higher Educ., Apr. 9, 1999, at A14.
52. See Robin Wilson, Contracts Replace the Tenure Track for a Growing Number of Professors, Chron. Higher Educ., June 12, 1998, at A12; Courtney Leatherman, Growth in Positions Off the Tenure-Track Is a Trend That's Here to Stay, Study Finds, Chron. Higher Educ., Apr. 9, 1999, at A14.
53. See Wilson, supra note 50, at A12.
54. See Robin Wilson, Georgia State U. Cuts Some Part-Time Positions to Add 65 Full-Time Faculty Jobs, Chron. Higher Educ., June 11, 1999, at A18.
55. Wilson, supra note 50, at A12.
56. See Angel, supra note 1, at 398.
57. See David Leonhardt, Soothing Savage Structures: A Leaderless Orchestra Offers Lessons for Business, N.Y. Times, Nov. 10, 1999, at C1.
58. See Angel, supra note 1, at 406-10.
59. Leonhardt, supra note 55, at C1, C14.
60. Washington, 1999 [hereinafter AASCU Report]. For a criticism of the AASCU report, see Cary Nelson, The War Against the Faculty, Chron. Higher Educ., Apr. 16, 1999, at B4.
61. See AASCU Report, supra note 58, at 10.
62. Id. at 13.
63. See id. at 34.
64. See id. at 13. Similar trends are appearing internationally. The Australian federal government is advocating non-tenure-track contract faculty for Australia's 38 public universities. See Geoffrey Maslen, Australian Academics Plan Strikes, Boycotts, Chron. Higher Educ., Nov. 12, 1999, at A62; see also Adam Fairclough, United Kingdom, Academe, July-Aug. 1999, at 36 (describing abolition of tenure in British universities in 1988 by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party).
65. See AASCU Report, supra note 58, at 13. The administration of Temple University has proposed hiring non-tenure-track "research faculty," who are a good thing because they bring in grants that pay their salaries and overhead to the university; "clinical faculty," who can charge fees for their services and also teach; and "deans' appointments," who, in the words of the acting provost, can teach "onerous" teaching loads. See Marina Angel, My Personal View of the Temple Administration's "Faculty of the Future," Temple U. Faculty Herald, Oct. 11, 1999, at 2. Temple introduced non-tenure-track clinical faculty at its medical school several years ago. That school went from having a majority of faculty who were tenured to 37 percent who are tenured. Severe problems have already emerged, including a lack of due process in renewal of contracts, illegal terminations within contract periods, unilateral rewriting of contracts to shorten them from three years to one year and to make the work required more onerous, and a failure to allow a promised movement from the clinical track to tenure track. See Letter from Craig T. Silverman, Chairman, Medical Faculty Personnel Committee, Temple University Hospital, to the author (Oct. 21, 1999) (on file with author). Research faculty are increasingly being funded by private corporations, and this is having a negative impact on basic research. See Paul Desruisseaux, Canadian Professors Decry Power of Companies in Campus Research, Chron. Higher Educ., Nov. 12, 1999, at A59. Canadian faculty leaders believe that "many scholars are being forced to forsake basic research for applied research, and to abandon scholarship in favor of entrepreneurship. Such developments, professors warn, threaten the academic freedom of scholars as well as the integrity of the universities." Id.
66. See AASCU Report, supra note 58, at 13. The administration of Temple University has proposed hiring non-tenure-track "research faculty," who are a good thing because they bring in grants that pay their salaries and overhead to the university; "clinical faculty," who can charge fees for their services and also teach; and "deans' appointments," who, in the words of the acting provost, can teach "onerous" teaching loads. See Marina Angel, My Personal View of the Temple Administration's "Faculty of the Future," Temple U. Faculty Herald, Oct. 11, 1999, at 2. Temple introduced non-tenure-track clinical faculty at its medical school several years ago. That school went from having a majority of faculty who were tenured to 37 percent who are tenured. Severe problems have already emerged, including a lack of due process in renewal of contracts, illegal terminations within contract periods, unilateral rewriting of contracts to shorten them from three years to one year and to make the work required more onerous, and a failure to allow a promised movement from the clinical track to tenure track. See Letter from Craig T. Silverman, Chairman, Medical Faculty Personnel Committee, Temple University Hospital, to the author (Oct. 21, 1999) (on file with author). Research faculty are increasingly being funded by private corporations, and this is having a negative impact on basic research. See Paul Desruisseaux, Canadian Professors Decry Power of Companies in Campus Research, Chron. Higher Educ., Nov. 12, 1999, at A59. Canadian faculty leaders believe that "many scholars are being forced to forsake basic research for applied research, and to abandon scholarship in favor of entrepreneurship. Such developments, professors warn, threaten the academic freedom of scholars as well as the integrity of the universities." Id.
67. See AASCU Report, supra note 58, at 13. The administration of Temple University has proposed hiring non-tenure-track "research faculty," who are a good thing because they bring in grants that pay their salaries and overhead to the university; "clinical faculty," who can charge fees for their services and also teach; and "deans' appointments," who, in the words of the acting provost, can teach "onerous" teaching loads. See Marina Angel, My Personal View of the Temple Administration's "Faculty of the Future," Temple U. Faculty Herald, Oct. 11, 1999, at 2. Temple introduced non-tenure-track clinical faculty at its medical school several years ago. That school went from having a majority of faculty who were tenured to 37 percent who are tenured. Severe problems have already emerged, including a lack of due process in renewal of contracts, illegal terminations within contract periods, unilateral rewriting of contracts to shorten them from three years to one year and to make the work required more onerous, and a failure to allow a promised movement from the clinical track to tenure track. See Letter from Craig T. Silverman, Chairman, Medical Faculty Personnel Committee, Temple University Hospital, to the author (Oct. 21, 1999) (on file with author). Research faculty are increasingly being funded by private corporations, and this is having a negative impact on basic research. See Paul Desruisseaux, Canadian Professors Decry Power of Companies in Campus Research, Chron. Higher Educ., Nov. 12, 1999, at A59. Canadian faculty leaders believe that "many scholars are being forced to forsake basic research for applied research, and to abandon scholarship in favor of entrepreneurship. Such developments, professors warn, threaten the academic freedom of scholars as well as the integrity of the universities." Id.
68. See Fred L. Morrison, Tenure Wars: An Account of the Controversy at Minnesota, 47 J. Legal Educ. 369, 369, 390-91 (1997). The Board of Regents wanted to make it easier to lay off or dismiss tenured faculty and to cut their salaries. The proposal that a faculty member might be disciplined for failure "to maintain a proper attitude of industry and cooperation with others within and without the University community," id. at 375, was part of an attempt at "'employeeization' that was the crux of the Minnesota crisis." Id. at 385. See also William H. Honan, University of Minnesota Regents Drop Effort to Modify Tenure, N.Y. Times, Nov. 17, 1996, at A21; Rene Sanchez, Minnesota Faculty, Regents Put Tenure to the Test, Wash. Post, Nov. 9, 1996, at A1.
69. See Fred L. Morrison, Tenure Wars: An Account of the Controversy at Minnesota, 47 J. Legal Educ. 369, 369, 390-91 (1997). The Board of Regents wanted to make it easier to lay off or dismiss tenured faculty and to cut their salaries. The proposal that a faculty member might be disciplined for failure "to maintain a proper attitude of industry and cooperation with others within and without the University community," id. at 375, was part of an attempt at "'employeeization' that was the crux of the Minnesota crisis." Id. at 385. See also William H. Honan, University of Minnesota Regents Drop Effort to Modify Tenure, N.Y. Times, Nov. 17, 1996, at A21; Rene Sanchez, Minnesota Faculty, Regents Put Tenure to the Test, Wash. Post, Nov. 9, 1996, at A1.
70. See Trent Alexander & Jennifer Bannister, Letter to the Editor, Replacing Professors with Freelancers, Chron. Higher Educ., Nov. 12, 1999, at B10.
71. Wilson, supra note 50, at A12.
72. See Wilson, supra note 52, at A18.
73. See Leatherman, supra note 50, at A14.
74. See The Nation, Chron. Higher Educ., Aug. 27, 1999 (1999-2000 Almanac Issue), at 38.
75. See ABA Guide, supra note 31, at 449.
76. See Edward Wyatt, Women Make Rapid Gains in the Chase for Doctoral Degrees, N.Y. Times, Nov. 4,1999, at A17.
77. This is similar to what happened in elementary schools, where women teachers predominate. See Angel, supra note 2, at 838 & n.246.
78. See Courtney Leatherman, Part-Timers Continue to Replace Full-Timers on College Faculties, Chron. Higher Educ., Jan. 28, 2000, at A18.
79. See Beth McMurtrie, Assessing the Group That Assesses Accreditation, Chron. Higher Educ., Nov. 12, 1999, at A41. The U.S. Department of Education has modified its accreditation rules. See Beth McMurtrie, Accreditors' New Rules Are More Flexible, Chron. Higher Educ., Oct. 29, 1999, at A42; see also Courtney Leatherman, Do Accreditors Look the Other Way When Colleges Rely on Part-Timers? Chron. Higher Educ., Nov. 7, 1997, at A12.
80. See Beth McMurtrie, Assessing the Group That Assesses Accreditation, Chron. Higher Educ., Nov. 12, 1999, at A41. The U.S. Department of Education has modified its accreditation rules. See Beth McMurtrie, Accreditors' New Rules Are More Flexible, Chron. Higher Educ., Oct. 29, 1999, at A42; see also Courtney Leatherman, Do Accreditors Look the Other Way When Colleges Rely on Part-Timers? Chron. Higher Educ., Nov. 7, 1997, at A12.
81. See Beth McMurtrie, Assessing the Group That Assesses Accreditation, Chron. Higher Educ., Nov. 12, 1999, at A41. The U.S. Department of Education has modified its accreditation rules. See Beth McMurtrie, Accreditors' New Rules Are More Flexible, Chron. Higher Educ., Oct. 29, 1999, at A42; see also Courtney Leatherman, Do Accreditors Look the Other Way When Colleges Rely on Part-Timers? Chron. Higher Educ., Nov. 7, 1997, at A12.
82. See Max Boot, Rule of Law The Little Law School That Could, Wall St. J., May 18, 1994, at A15. The ABA entered into a consent decree with the Department of Justice in which it agreed to significantly alter its accreditation standards. A final judgment entered June 25, 1996, enjoined the ABA from collecting compensation data and from refusing to accredit proprietary schools. Legal Notice, A.B.A. J., Oct. 1996, at 133, 133-36.
83. See Max Boot, Rule of Law The Little Law School That Could, Wall St. J., May 18, 1994, at A15. The ABA entered into a consent decree with the Department of Justice in which it agreed to significantly alter its accreditation standards. A final judgment entered June 25, 1996, enjoined the ABA from collecting compensation data and from refusing to accredit proprietary schools. Legal Notice, A.B.A. J., Oct. 1996, at 133, 133-36.
84. See Peter T. Kilborn, Help Wanted, Meaning Help Can Be Fussy, N.Y. Times, Nov. 6, 1999, at A1, A11; Louis Uchitelle, Jobless Rate Drops to 4.1% as Wages Rise by 1¢ an Hour, N.Y. Times, Nov. 6, 1999, at C1; Richard W. Stevenson, Hesitating Beside a Shallow Labor Pool: Will Fed Take Plunge and Raise Rates? N.Y. Times, Nov. 12, 1999, at C1, C8.
85. See Peter T. Kilborn, Help Wanted, Meaning Help Can Be Fussy, N.Y. Times, Nov. 6, 1999, at A1, A11; Louis Uchitelle, Jobless Rate Drops to 4.1% as Wages Rise by 1¢ an Hour, N.Y. Times, Nov. 6, 1999, at C1; Richard W. Stevenson, Hesitating Beside a Shallow Labor Pool: Will Fed Take Plunge and Raise Rates? N.Y. Times, Nov. 12, 1999, at C1, C8.
86. See Peter T. Kilborn, Help Wanted, Meaning Help Can Be Fussy, N.Y. Times, Nov. 6, 1999, at A1, A11; Louis Uchitelle, Jobless Rate Drops to 4.1% as Wages Rise by 1¢ an Hour, N.Y. Times, Nov. 6, 1999, at C1; Richard W. Stevenson, Hesitating Beside a Shallow Labor Pool: Will Fed Take Plunge and Raise Rates? N.Y. Times, Nov. 12, 1999, at C1, C8.
87. There is a projected 9.8 percent increase in college and university enrollments between 1999 and 2009. See The Nation, supra note 69, at 25.
88. See Paul Desruisseaux, Foreign Students Continue to Flock to the U.S., Chron. Higher Educ., Dec. 10, 1999, at A57; William H. Honan, Increase Seen in Number of Foreign Students Here, N.Y. Times, Dec. 7, 1998, at A23.
89. See Paul Desruisseaux, Foreign Students Continue to Flock to the U.S., Chron. Higher Educ., Dec. 10, 1999, at A57; William H. Honan, Increase Seen in Number of Foreign Students Here, N.Y. Times, Dec. 7, 1998, at A23.
90. See Mary Beth Marklein, American Colleges Keep Opening Gates Wider to Foreigners: China Surpasses Japan as No. 1 Source, USA Today, Dec. 6, 1999, at D6.
91. Umberto Eco calculated that, after subtracting time for sleeping, eating, bathing, dressing, and commuting, his schedule as a university professor left him one hour and forty minutes a day for "sex, conversation with friends and family, funerals, medical care, shopping, sports, theatre." How to Spend Time, in How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays, trans. William Weaver, 122-25 (San Diego, 1994).