Tenure is something that students rarely think about. Like the presidential search, it is a subject that for many of us lies outside immediate day-to-day concerns. We assume it is governed solely by higher powers-President Gerety, the Board of Trustees and members of the faculty-and that our voices carry little weight. After all, we are here for only four years, a mere fraction of the lifetime that usually constitutes a tenured professorship.

Effectiveness of teaching, current academic growth-indicated by recent creative work, publication of books and articles, etc.-and general contribution to the life of the College are all factors considered in the decision to grant tenure to a candidate. It is unclear which factor is most crucial, only that each is vital to the overall process. Students may be surprised to know how strongly the academic reputation of a professor actually matters in tenure decisions.

Many of our first encounters with the tenure process occur when we are asked to write an evaluation of one of our professors. We know that the Committee of Six and the President take these evaluations into consideration when they make their recommendations, but we don't know how much our thoughts really matter by the time the Board of Trustees makes its final decision.

Since it is uncertain just how much student input weighs in the procedure, we feel that the student body should be provided with more information about how much influence we actually do have.

Quality of teaching is integral to the liberal arts college and who but the students can provide a better assessment of a professor's ability to teach? Thus, we feel that student input should carry equal weight to the opinions of a tenure candidate's colleagues.

We also think that students should be able to intervene-through protests and petitions-in the final decision, provided that there are appropriately compelling reasons for their dispute. The Board of Trustees should be respectful of the disagreement and consider reexamining their decision, but should not be required to do so in all cases.

We encourage restraint in such motions; students should always seek the approval of the tenure candidate in question prior to taking action. Lastly, students should make their support evident in a timely manner, showing their support during the official appeals process.