Tenure as a fact of academic life: a methodology for managing the performance of tenured professors

Academic freedom is the right, especially of a university professor, to free speech without fear of reprisal. Experts posit three means to academic freedom: tenure, due process and professional competence. A critical issue in current post-secondary education governance and administration that relates to each of these means is post-tenure review. Post-tenure review relates to evaluating and managing the performance of tenured professors. Performance fundamentals include accountability, competence and professional development. This article suggests a methodology for a performance-based approach to increasing the productivity of tenured professors while safeguarding academic freedom.     

The Big End of Town Meets the Local Council: The Investment Habitus of Four Sets of Australian Councils during the GFC

The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 led to a substantial write‐down in the value of investments such as collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) with one class of investors being NSW Local councils.  This article analyses interviews with four different investor types (or sets) of local councils, each of which took a substantially different approach to CDO investment. This categorisation into sets was based on interviews of 28 individuals working within 14 local councils as well as commentaries on legal cases involving a class action of local councils suing Lehman Brothers Australia as well as Grange Securities over losses in their investments. This article adopts Bourdieu's Theory of Practice to describe and explain behaviour regarding decisions to invest (or not) in CDOs. Interesting themes arise regarding differing views on the appropriate role of local councils, and on the degree and form of ‘capital’ (which includes knowledge, competencies, skills, and economic resources) that a council should have before investing in sophisticated financial products. This article explores the role that field, habitus, and capital played in moderating and influencing council investment making decisions. The analysis shows that these Bourdieuian concepts can be utilised to help explain individual behaviour. This case study shows that excessive capital left in the hands of individuals may result in suboptimal decision making. Local councils may need to consider ways of implementing policies and procedures that can be used to moderate individual action.     

Dental Age Estimation: A Test of the Reliability of Correctly Identifying a Subject Over 18 Years of Age Using the Gold Standard of Chronological Age as the Comparator

This study was designed to test the reliability of using the third molars to demarcate between child and adult status. A total of 2000 dental panoramic tomographs were used for assessment of the calculated age using the 8‐stage system of tooth development and applied to all four third molars. The LL8 was also assessed using this 8‐stage system. For each tooth development stage, the Normal distribution and percentile summary data were estimated. The calculated dental age compared with the chronological age was statistically significantly different (p < 0.001) for both females and males giving underestimates of the true age. Comparison of single tooth dental age and chronological age was only slightly different. The most important finding is that the assignment to above or below the 18‐year threshold, in the age range 17 years to 19 years, could be wrong on up to 50% of occasions.