Abolish Tenure?
Max Boot in the
LA Times seconds the Boston Herald on tenure. His argument: tenure protects lefty academics by allowing them a) to say stupid things and b) to lash out against conservatives with impunity. "Harvard offers a good illustration of how harshly transgressions against liberal pieties are punished within academe," Boot argues. His solution. "Abolish tenure. Subject professors to the discipline of the marketplace like almost everyone else."
Sigh. This kind of argument is as silly as it is, unfortunately, commonplace.
First, let us reiterate this
one more time: The uproar at Harvard is not merely about Larry Summers' recent remarks on women in the sciences. They were the match that lit an extant pile of kindling. The uproar is about management style and the direction of the university.
Second, as a private citizen Larry Summers can say whatever he wants. The president of Harvard can not, just as the president of the United States can not, just as the Treasury secretary can not. (A fact Larry Summers knew about the Treasury but has had trouble learning at Harvard.)
When you are in a position of immense power, you simply can not pop off on any subject that comes into your head. There are consequences—legal, professional, intellectual—that can impede your ability to lead. Imagine if Alan Greenspan made some incredibly irresponsible remark, and the stock market plummeted. Would conservatives then defend his right to free speech?
Max Boot uses the example of Ward Churchill to show just how bad tenure is. (Churchill's the University of Colorado professor who made some asinine remarks about 9/11 victims.) Look how hard it is to fire Churchill! Boot proclaims.
Call me crazy, but I'd argue that Churchill is a perfect example of why we need tenure—to allow professors to speak their mind without fear of being fired for doing so.
It'd be nice if provocative speech were always intelligent. But intelligent or no, professors will often say things that get politicians, pundits and the general public riled up. If they had to worry about losing their jobs every time they opened their mouths, they'd shut up—and our society would be much the worse off for it.
We want professors to say whatever's on their mind...especially if we know that we won't always like it. That's vital to a healthy, self-confident, and open-minded culture.
