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mojo84 wrote:Tenure creates another protected class of elites that is not necessary.

When did you "earn" your tenure?

Since you asked, I am not tenured. I chose a teaching position not eligible for tenure because I am near retirement and didn't want the hassle.

However, while we will disagree, I am a strong supporter of academic freedom and I believe tenure is an important part of that.

And btw, the Baylor intelligent design prof who was let go did not have tenure. However, the Prof who hired him does have tenure and is still there.

There are also conservative professors who enjoy tenure. You can't have it both ways. For example, there is serious research studying the statistical probabilities of intelligent design. I doubt many east coast universities would tolerate that.

Certainly there always a few bad apples in any system, but tenure exists to protect the academic freedom of the individual, inspire new uncharted research, and allows the researcher to obtain external funding (which the university takes a cut) that it might not get otherwise. There are always provisions to fire someone with tenure, but expressing an opinion is not one of them.

I reccognize that we are disagreeing with her opnion, but not denying her right to say it. But blaming it on the tenure system is not relevant. Major universities do not exist just to teach undergraduates, and they rely on the tenure system to attract and keep quality people. Professors "earn" tenure through a long process of performance and evaluation, so it is not just "given". There are universities that only teach undergradutes and do not grant tenure at all. They are successful in what they do as well, but they have different goals.

Like I said, it is not a perfect system, but it has its place. You can always vote with your feet, or your money.

Oldgringo wrote:

mojo84 wrote:Excaliber nailed it. I couldn't agree more. Tenure is a very destructive concept.

Tenure ranks right down there with federal judges being appointed for life.

C;mon guys, let's not be hypocritical. You're defending BOR at the same time you're denying her her 1A rights.

Tenure exists to protect the individual from the administration, just like the BOR. A proven research professor earns tenure, and can then express their opinions without fear of retribution just because the powers that be disagree.