Board Members, Here is an interesting article, I recently read concerning the plot of one professor after he was denial tenure. http://chronicle.com/article/Life-After-Tenure-Denial/63815/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Tenure will be a historical footnote in Educational Administrative programs. The future is a broker model, why teach it when you can have others deliver the program. (say straighterline?) At most schools will become a drop in centre to pay your fees, get IT assistance that can't be done by remote, or do your laundry. Of course I might just be a tad cynical...
There happened to be a story in today's New York Times on this topic: http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/gee/
Given the power of unions in many university settings, I suspect it will be a long time before tenure does not exist. Tenure is the carrot for production beyond teaching in the classroom. For profit universities have managed to make this happen and many traditional universites have managed to create two tracks, one tenured and one not tenured, but I suspect it will be a long time before tenure fully goes away.
It might due to economic pressure and spreading overproduction of PhDs, but I really hope it will not. The underlying reason - academic freedom - is still valid, and will continue to be so.
