Why Opportunities for Tenure Matter for Minoritized Faculty in Academic Medicine

Academic medicine continues to characterize the experiences of Black and other minoritized faculty in medicine to enhance their careers and promote their advancement. An issue of discussion is tenure and its role in the advancement and retention of this group. Tenure is a sign of national presence, command of an area of study, and can demonstrate support from the institution in terms of permanent employment, eligibility to apply for awards, sit or vote on certain committees or qualify for certain leadership opportunities. Anecdotally there have been reports that tenure is a thing of the past that has lost relevance prompting some to end tenure in their institutions. Reasons for this are complex, however the literature does not include minoritized faculty as a reason for the need to revise or eliminate tenure and tenure earning tracks. The authors discuss 3 reasons why Black and other minoritized faculty should be afforded the opportunity to achieve permanent status in their academic health centers. They include histories of being denied freedom, having information concealed or being giving false information, and being denied permanent academic employment status.