RE: tenure and freedom of speech. The argument that tenure protects
academic freedom is, in practice, in many cases, specious! First of all,
a person gets hired as a tenure track faculty first of all because it's
likely they already "fit in" with the existing faculty mindset at an
institution. Then, if they prove otherwise in the next 6 or so years, they
don't get tenure anyway.
I think we have can look at the questions such as: who benefits from
tenure, what exactly are the benefits that aren't already guaranteed by
the constitution, what are the net effects of tenure in terms of morale,
etc. Personally, the idea of tenure is a disincentive for me to want to
work in academic institutions -- I'm not interested in proving myself to
anyone, not interested in any more grading rituals! :)
Bob