With the stroke of a pen, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt is ending the future awarding of faculty tenure at the state’s regional universities and community colleges.
Stitt signed two executive orders affecting Oklahoma’s public higher education system. Executive order 2026-07 states that, going forward, Oklahoma’s regional four-year institutions “shall not grant new lifetime tenure appointments.”
Instead, their new faculty will need to be hired on fixed-term contracts that would be renewable based on a faculty member’s documented performance involving student outcomes, institutional service, and “alignment with workforce and Oklahoma economic needs.” Faculty who already have tenure or who are currently eligible for it would retain their status, according to the order.
Read more at Forbes.
