The term academic clock generally refers to the time it is expected, for white male non-disabled students, faculty, or academic staff, to reach a point in their academic career - for instance the tenure clock, which is the policy in most universities that a tenure-track professor is up for tenure review seven years after the start their job at that university, or the time it is expected a student will take to earn their degree. Not abiding by an academic clock can have real consequences - having to take out more in student loans, having a poor tenure review, or being seen as less than peers.