A survey of colleges and universities yielded information about current tenure practices; distribution of faculty in selected fields; how the tenure selection system worked as measured by approval rates, deferred decisions, and early releases of tenure-track faculty; and what changes were anticipated in the practices in the next five years. Among the highlights are these: at public institutions, 69 percent of full-time faculty were tenured, and 23 percent had tenure-track positions; at private institutions these percentages were 63 and 32. The physical sciences had the highest tenure rate (76 percent) and social sciences the smallest (63 percent). Institutions expected to employ non-tenure-track faculty for an average of three years. Of the 12,400 individuals formally considered for tenure in 1978-79, 58 percent were granted tenure and 22 percent remained eligible for future consideration. The tenure approval rate was highest at private universities and lowest at private four-year colleges. The rate was also highest in engineering and lowest in social sciences. Overall, public institutions reported slightly shorter tenure probationary periods than private institutions, although both expected to use slightly longer periods in the near future. About three of ten institutions accepted postdoctoral appointments as part of pretenure probation. Data charts and graphs are included. The survey instrument, a methods explanation, and a discussion of survey reliability are appended. (MSE)