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i figured as much--the rest of the post was a series of arguments against this position. to start with, you wrongly assume that a university at the teaching level is like any other corporate gig. and i do not think you have thought out what the implications of abolishing tenure would be--the logic seems to start and stop with the above.
i am myself not tenured, by the way. but i have a fair understanding of what functions it does (and does not) serve from the inside.
for example, what makes you think that "the taxpayer" is in a position to hold academics to account for what amounts usually to highly specialized work in fields they know nothing about? would this not simply but people without the time or interest to track a field or series of fields in a position of making what amounts to arbitrary judgements about the content of this (for the most part) specialized production? and when would this "accountability" become operational? when something published offends the sensibilities of conservatives? if the latter, it is censorship, pure and simple--if the former, it is incoherent as an idea. not to mention as a policy.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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