Reallocation in academic dentistry: a legal and administrative perspective.

Like other elements in higher education, academic dentistry is experiencing financial austerity and must be able to reallocate its resources in order to provide the optimal level of service within a given budget. Continuous, across-the-board budget cuts will only reduce the quality of strong departments to the level of weak ones. Dental college faculty, with guidance and support from administrators, will need to develop procedures and criteria for program restructuring that will increase educational flexibility and link budgeting with planning. Seniority and tenure may be used as criteria for personnel action, but faculty must be aware that tenure is a method to achieve academic freedom and is not a guarantee of perpetual employment. The courts will not substitute their judgment for that of the university authorities in academic or personnel matters unless the institution's action is arbitrary, capricious, or discriminatory.