Tenure is Hurting Students and Universities
There’s a whole chapter I devote to the emphasis on research over teaching, which I think is a huge problem in the academy, and I think tenure is really a system that is designed to reward research: “This is your paper. This is your field medal. This is your Nobel Prize. Congratulations, you are so valuable to the university that we’ll give you tenure.” I don’t think that’s what most undergraduates need or care about — or should care about.
What has been your experience with the positives and negatives of tenure?
Positives of tenure: People do feel more able to do unusual things and complain about administrative missteps, when they are tenured.
People can’t be fired in job lots because the administration decided they want a different college, leaving lots of twenty year veterans without jobs.
Negatives of tenure: People sometimes decide they don’t have to work much and it’s hard to get them out. (Not impossible, though it may not happen if the administration is not willing to work the process.)