Kansas legislature to consider bill to end tenure, possibly proposed by the general counsel of one of its universities
HB 2348 would empower state universities to strip faculty of tenure at any time.
https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/hb2348/
(a) An award of tenure may confer certain benefits, processes or preferences, but tenure shall be discretionary and conditional and shall not, nor shall it be interpreted to, create any entitlement, right or property interest in a faculty member's current, ongoing or future employment by an institution.
(b) The board of regents and any institution shall not define, award or otherwise recognize tenure as an entitlement, right or property interest in a faculty member's current, ongoing or future employment by an institution.
(c) No award of tenure by the board of regents or any institution in existence on the effective date of this act shall be considered or deemed an entitlement, right or property interest in a faculty member's current, ongoing, or future employment by an institution.
(d) Any special benefits, processes or preferences conferred on a faculty member by an institution's award of tenure can be at any time revoked, limited, altered or otherwise modified by the awarding institution or by the state board of regents.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted or used to infringe or abrogate a faculty member's otherwise constitutionally protected rights or interests.
Interestingly, the text of the bill says it was "requested on behalf of Steven Lovett." A Steven Lovett is the general counsel of Emporia State University. Emporia went through a crisis recently in which the administration fired tenured faculty:
https://www.aaup.org/report/academic-freedom-and-tenure-emporia-state-university-kansas
The crisis resulted in a legal case, in which tenured faculty who had been terminated sued the university and a number of administrators--including Lovett--in their individual capacities. In other words, Lovett could in theory be held liable personally for the plaintiffs' damages if they win their case. The case was about more than just the alleged violation of their tenure rights, but that is a part of it.
(Note that one of the plaintiffs is confusingly also named Lovett.) The case is still ongoing, and Lovett (the general counsel) recently lost a motion to dismiss the claims against him: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ksd.148121/gov.uscourts.ksd.148121.54.0.pdf (
That order includes a discussion of the facts and legal background of the case, too.
Lovett does not agree with the court's decision, and recently asked the court to reconsider--specifically, to reconsider whether the plaintiffs had a "property right" to employment. Not surprisingly, the bill he apparently requested the Kansas legislature to take up deals with that specific issue. Three of its four operative provisions are about changing the law on that particular point. It would not win the case for Lovett--the language does not work retroactively--so presumably this is expressing some deeper concerns he has, assuming it's the same Steven Lovett.
The governor is likely to veto the bill if it passes, I think. Regardless, it's shocking to see the general counsel of a public university move to end tenure statewide.
Disclosure--I have no affiliation with the case or Emporia, don't know any of the people involved, and am not even tenure-track myself.