History keeps chugging along, but academic history departments are in trouble. In this excerpt from our recent conversation, I talk with historian Daniel Bessner about the economic and institutional pressures that are threatening the professional study of history.
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My big argument against tenure is related to what Bessner said about conservatives not becoming professors. I lean right and have tenure, but I don't actually believe that tenure would protect me if I started voicing various right-leaning opinions, and there have been some recent cases in the US where tenure wasn't enough to protect the professor.
Even when tenure is enough, it usually involves a long legal battle that most people don't want to bother with.
Or let's say that you voice some heterodox opinion that other professors and admins don't like. Yes, maybe they can't fire you because of your words. What they can do, however, is start digging into your past to find something that CAN be used as a foothold to make a case that you should lose your job.
As always, conservatives focus not on the theoretical (tenure means you can say what you want without being fired) but rather the practical (people with tenure have been fired)
In sum, if tenure doesn't REALLY protect you, what's the point? As far as I can see, it only really protects you if you have an opinion that you believe to be "unconventional" or "fighting the power" but it's actually an opinion that everyone around you shares.
Glenn… can you try to get Matthew Desmond on the podcast to discuss his new book about poverty.