Tenure in the Collegia
The primary method of advancement for Red Wizards in The Collegia is tenure. Through academic accomplishments, influence with other tenured professors, and sheer longevity, a Red Wizard can earn tenure, to varying degrees.
To gain tenure, one must be a professor in a collegium (see The Collegia). Professorship in the eight Higher Schools can be granted only to a Red Wizard, while any wizard can be a professor in the Lower School, The Collegium of Sorcery and Artifice. Generally speaking, all practicing Red Wizards are professors. However, a Red Wizard who does not actively pursue scholarship, or at least contribute to the school in some way (usually financial), will gain little tenure.
Though the term "tenured" is commonly used, there are actually three distinct ranks that are considered tenured, and an unnamed lowest rank commonly called "nontenured". The ranks are:
- Honored (superior to nontenured)
- Revered (superior to Honored)
- Exalted (superior to Revered)
A professor is usually addressed by a combination of the honorific of tenure and a title, which may be traditional or even arbitrarily chosen. Such titles include "Honored Scholar", "Revered Sage", and "Exalted Loremaster". Rarely, one's magical specialty is used, such as in "Honored Diviner". In the generic scope, "Professor" is usually used as the title.
The Misnomer of "Tenure"
The word "tenure" in other academic pursuits implies a level of job security. A tenured professor is protected from termination due to the subject matter which he or she chooses to study and/or teach. This system is meant to provide an environment of free knowledge-seeking, where otherwise politics and populism might censor or even forbid certain lines of study.
In Thay, tenure does not render a professor immune to censure and termination. Curriculum Masters of each collegium determine the acceptable studies of their school. One's freedom to stray from their guidelines, and indeed the strictness of those guidelines varies from school to school, branch to branch, and sometimes even year to year.
However, tenure does provide a modicum of protection. A professor can only be censured, suspended, or terminated by a council of his superiors. Thus, an Honored Professor is immune to other Honored Professors, and can only be tried by Revered Professors or their superiors.
The process for censure is usually a trial by a committee of the Council of Tenured Professors, wherein all presiding have greater tenure than the accused. If so judged, the accused gains little more than a verbal slap on the wrist. However, an oft-censured professor can be considered for demotion to a lower state of tenure.
The process for suspension or termination is usually tried by the Headmaster of the school branch and the Council of Tenured Professors, wherein most, if not all members are Exalted Professors. Suspension is often preferred, as it is both unfortunate and unwise to expel a knowledgeable wizard from the ranks of The Collegia.
Theoretically, an Exalted Professor is immune to censure and termination due to curriculum. However, in extreme cases, the Council of Zulkirs may try such an individual. Due to the rarity of such cases, censure and suspension are not often levied by such a judgment.
