Tenure’s Endless Numbered Days

Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle · The Chronicle of Higher Education

Opublikowano: 2026-02-11

In its long and often tortured history, the faculty-job-protection status known as tenure has been defended as an essential safeguard for academic freedom. Professors, the argument goes, need to know that they won’t get fired for researching and teaching about controversial topics. In theory, tenure provides that necessary security. But critics of the system, who balk at the idea of a “job for life,” are unmoved by this defense. State lawmakers are busy chipping away at tenure’s protections or even seeking to do away with it altogether. But if the traditional argument for tenure’s existence is failing, w...