Major US research universities changing tenure decisions due to lack of federal science funding

http://chronicle.com/article/In-an-Era-of-Tighter-Budgets/235814

Large research universities in the US have begun granting tenure to faculty members who have never won a full-sized federal grant, writes Paul Basken for the Chronicle of Higher Education. The author notes that traditionally, winning such a grant was mandatory to be considered for tenure at a major research centre, yet universities are reportedly lifting this requirement as a concession to declining levels of federal funding for science. That said, universities are still hesitant to speak about such hires, as the article notes that “among leaders at a couple of dozen institutions surveyed by The Chronicle, none were willing to identify a single faculty member who had been awarded tenure without first winning a major federal research grant.”