Nov. 28, 2016

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If it matters to you, it matters to us.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA

anguard V THE

MONDAY NOV 28 2016 VOL 59 ISS 15

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USA Offers Free Counseling Finals are stressful, and students should know about services available. Page 4

USA Football Makes History

Holiday Art Sale

The Jags win all four nonconference games for the first time. Page 10

Students and faculty will sell hand-made art this Friday. Page 9

NEWS

SPORTS

A view of the Visual Arts Building located on the East side of campus. Photo courtesy of southalabama.edu

Editor’s Note:

Retraction, explanation of tenure

USA men’s bascketball guard Herb McGee shoots past Youngstown guard Francisco Santiago. Photo by Briana Cunningham.

By Alanna Whitaker | Managing Editor

Last week, The Vanguard fully retracted an article published in issue 12 titled “Renowned head of galss (sic) blowing department loses tenure.” The retraction is posted on The Vanguard website and social media. The Vanguard failed to accurately describe the academic tenure process and views its mistake as an opportunity to educate students and readers about the procedure. It is also necessary to provide a complete description of the tenure application review process for the sake of those who read the previous article and may have drawn conclusions without an adequate understanding of it. A tenured professor has the right to

due process, which means the professor is safeguarded from arbitrary denial of employment and is contractually employed with the university until retirement, unless there is just cause for removal. Non-tenured professors are employed by the university for the academic year or on a semester-by-semester basis. The University of South Alabama Faculty Handbook describes the importance of tenure as “a means to certain ends, specifically: (1) freedom of teaching and research and of extramural activities; (2) a sufficient degree of economic security to make the profession attractive to men and women of ability.” This means that teachers are free to pursue research that is potentially

controversial without fear of termination. According to Tony Wright, tenured professor of ceramics at USA, the tenure process generally takes six years for an applicant to be accepted or rejected. A department with an open tenure position, Wright explained, first creates a search committee to review credentials of all applicants. Applicants are then vetted based on personal strengths and the department’s vision for the program. The agenda for a program may include a variety of factors, such as a desired skill set, specialties or demographic needs within a department. Once hired for a tenure-track position, the candidate must wait five years before

See page 3

USA men’s basketball has best season opener since 80s By Marissa Mason | Sports Editor

The USA men’s basketball opened their 2016-17 season with five consecutive wins. This is the second time in school history since the 1982-83 season that the Jags began a season with an undefeated

See page 11


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