A Kansas House bill authored by Emporia State general counsel Steven Lovett that seeks to eliminate tenure as a property right has been stuck in committee since its introduction in the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 11.

Under Kansas House Bill 2348, introduced on Lovett’s behalf by Rep. Steven Howe of Salina, tenure would be defined as a “discretionary and conditional” appointment with certain benefits, but with no entitlements, rights or property interests of employment attached. As such, the benefits could “at any time be revoked, limited, altered or otherwise modified by the awarding institution of the state board of regents.” 

The bill comes as Lovett remains a defendant in a lawsuit filed by 11 tenured and tenure-track faculty fired from ESU in 2022 during the implementation of the Workforce Management Framework. The faculty filed the suit in United States District Court in July 2023, citing that the University violated their procedural and substantive due process rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, their Fourteenth Amendment equal rights protections and their First Amendment rights. 

ESU spokeswoman Gwen Larson said that the bill was a surprise to the University, but that ESU respects Lovett’s constitutional rights to freedom of expression. 

“Emporia State University supports its faculty, academic freedom and tenure,” she said. “It is the constitutional right of any employee to submit a bill for consideration in their capacity as a private citizen.”

ESU Provost Brent Thomas echoed Larson’s statement, adding that faculty are “foundational to the ongoing success of our university and its students.”

In his address to the House Committee on the Judiciary on Feb. 11, Lovett, who is also a tenured associate professor in the School of Business, asserted that he authored the bill in his “personal capacity” and appeared before the committee as a citizen and taxpayer. He said that while he is in favor of tenure, he is “not in favor of it being a property right,” citing its long term effects on taxpayers and the hindrance of fiscal and cultural progress of universities. He argued that property right as tenure was not needed to protect academic freedom, saying that academic freedom is protected by the First Amendment, not tenure or due process. 

Tenure as a property right and due process are central elements of the July 2023 lawsuit. In a Dec. 5 court ruling, the court asserted that the professors “sufficiently allege that they held property rights in their continued employment” and that their property interest is protected under the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. 

The ruling was part of a broader motion granted and denied in part by the court that sought to dismiss the July 2023 complaint. While otherwise denying the motion, the court granted the dismissal of the three conspiracy claims put forth by the professors and granted the dismissal of some of the case’s defendants. Lovett and ESU President Ken Hush were not among those dismissed. The court later upheld its decision after the defendants pushed through a motion to reconsider the ruling. 

Lovett later called tenure as a property right “unnecessary shelter at great financial and operational costs for our taxpayers and our universities for nothing more than personal gain.”

“HB 2348 eliminates the property right of tenure, but not tenure itself,” he said. 

Lovett went on to say that the bill was in line with KBOR policy, which states: “Tenure is a privilege that must be affirmatively granted by an institution in recognition of meritorious performance.” He said that he was “equally confident” that all of Kansas’ four-year public universities would be in support of the bill as well.                                                                                   

“Any institutional opposition with the board’s own policy and publicly stated position would violate statutory law which states that the University shall be controlled by, and operated and managed under the supervision of, the Board of Regents,” Lovett said.

On the contrary, University of Kansas Chancellor Doug Girod and Kansas State University President Richard Linton announced their opposition to the bill. Kansas Board of Regents President and CEO Blake Flanders also said the regents do not support the bill.

In his last remark, Lovett renounced and surrendered his tenure at ESU. 

“Tenure should be a badge of meritorious work and service, and not a personal right paid for by my neighbors and my fellow Kansans,” he said. 

It is unclear whether or not HB 2348 will make it to the House floor during this legislative session. According to the Kansas Reflector, Gov. Laura Kelly is skeptical that the bill will even make it to her desk. 

The Bulletin reached out to Rep. Howe for comment on his sponsorship of the bill, but did not receive a response. In an email to The Bulletin, Lovett said he would “confine (his) comments” to those made at the hearing.