A Pulaski County circuit judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the University of Arkansas System's tenure policy for faculty members.
The judge's order filed Thursday follows the March 2020 dismissal of a similar lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Little Rock.
Tenure is defined by the UA System as the right of continuous appointment. Professors gain tenure based on their job performances over several years. After getting tenure, professors still undergo annual reviews.
Three professors from separate UA System schools had argued in court documents that a change to the UA System's tenure policy violated due-process rights, retroactively changing the contractual relationship between faculty member and employer.
The Pulaski County Circuit Court lawsuit argued that changing the tenure policy as done by trustees in 2018 "violates not only the Constitutions of the United States of America and the State of Arkansas but also well-established Arkansas legal principles concerning the interpretation and unilateral modification of contracts."
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Mackie Pierce, in an order filed Thursday, stated that the professors' "claims are speculative and they have failed to demonstrate actual or imminent injury or harm."
The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled.
The three professors named as plaintiffs are: Philip Palade, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; J. Thomas Sullivan, a professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's William H. Bowen School of Law; and Gregory Borse, an associate professor of English and philosophy at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
The professors this year filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the federal district court ruling dismissing their case. The court has added the case to its docket, but no decision has been made yet about whether a full review will follow.
Earlier, an appeal of the federal lawsuit's dismissal resulted in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in November finding "no basis for reversal."
Joseph W. Price II, an attorney listed as representing the professors in the Pulaski County court case, did not respond Thursday to an email and voice message seeking comment.
Nate Hinkel, a spokesman for the UA System, in a statement said three courts had now ruled that "the professors have failed to demonstrate that they have been injured by the revised policy."
Hinkel said the updated tenure policy "reflects a commitment to free speech, and the professors have freely exercised their expressive rights during the three-and-a-half years the policy has been in effect."