yet another initiative for reform

From Scott Jaschik, A Tenure Reform Plan With Legs, Inside Higher Ed, January 5, 2006:
A special panel of the MLA is finishing a report that will call for numerous, far-reaching changes in the way assistant professors are reviewed for tenure. Among the ideas that will be part of the plan are:

• The creation of “multiple pathways” to demonstrating research excellence. The monograph is one way, but so would be journal articles, electronic projects, textbooks, jointly written books, and other approaches.
• The drafting of “memorandums of understanding” between new hires and departments so that those new hires would have a clear sense of expectations in terms of how they would be evaluated for tenure.
• A commitment to treating electronic work with the same respect accorded to work published in print.
• The setting of limits on the number of outside reviews sought in tenure cases and on what those reviewers could be asked.