COLLOQUY

There is virtually nothing in Mr. Magrath's piece with which I can agree. I especially condemn his base toadying to the "civic and business leaders" responsible for the current wave of downsizing and economic insecurity throughout the nation. That at least they cannot have their way in academia too is reason to celebrate. Mr. Magrath's blather about the protections afforded all of us by the First Amendment are mendacious in a society where, for example, employees can be fired for criticizing the practices of their employer to customers. It is not the First Amendment but the National Labor Relations Act which prevents employees who are trying to organize unions from being fired.

The central problem of tenure in America's colleges and universities is that far too few faculty members raise far too few hackles so infrequently among those for whose good opinion Mr. Magrath debases himself. What better illustration could we have of the relatively new saying "Use it or lose it"? While the environment, sexism, and racism are important, the fundamental issue facing America's citizens is economic, in particular the relation of employment. Tenure is the price the employing class pays for faculty members at American colleges and universities to render themselves politically irrelevant. Isn't this a small price to pay for an utterly docile intelligentsia? Tenure is a condition in a contract of employment. I look forward to the day when Americans think as little of being someone's hireling as they do now of those who receive personal, rather than corporate, welfare. To save tenure, tenured faculty members must join the struggle to wring such advantageous conditions of employment from employers for all employees.

--Robert C. Marshall, Associate Professor and Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Wash. (posted 2/24, 3:15 p.m., E.S.T.)