Thursday, July 22, 2010

Nerd News: The Decline of Tenure

Here is an interesting debate: "What If College Tenure Dies?"

UPDATE 1: More here.

UPDATE 2: A thought.  There's a lot more going on in the tenure discussion that it looks.  As a nerd, I'm also struck by the thought that there are some misconceptions in the conversation, especially on the part of non-academics.  I don't have time right now to write a full-blown post about tenure and its need for reform (I do think the question of "what is tenure good for?" is a legitimate one that we should talk about).  But here's a sidenote about the forgotten: a large amount of teaching on any university campus is done by lecturers and adjuncts.  They don't have tenure nor the chance of getting it.  It's like an entire academic underclass.

No comments: