Tenure, as it currently exists, doesn't protect academic freedom. Getting tenure requires getting through five to eight years without offending anyone. It's a system that carefully selects for gutless wonders with no strong opinions about anything.
If tenure is really to be used to protect academic freedom, it must be immediate: Anyone who gets hired gets tenure and can be dismissed only for clearly and publicly stated cause. The result of that approach would not only create a more amicable community in academia but would also put an end to the practice of hiring "tenure tracks" who are never really going to stay. (A lot of colleges now label temporary jobs "tenure track" because they know people will work harder for less if they think they have a chance at tenure.)
Tenure reform (not elimination) may make some difference, but in the end the only real way to protect freedom of speech is to show some courage and speak. It's not that difficult. Many people find the courage to do it. Of course, few of them are in academia -- not for long, anyway.
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- --Toni Levi, Washington (posted 2/26, 2:30 p.m., E.S.T.)
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