TENURE VIA THE BACK DOOR. Sean at The American Mind has been following the death-duel between the University of Wisconsin and the Legislature over the practice of granting high-ranking administrators tenure in academic departments, which has lately become known as "backup jobs" for administrators that don't work out. As I noted here, at one time presidents and deans were citizen professors who did that work for a few years before returning to faculty. That's somewhat less common these days. Watch for the Legislature to gain some traction here. With the continued division of labor in the academy, the ranks of administrators including presidents and provosts is being expanded by scholars whose research credentials are often modest.

Watch the critics outside the academy to become even more vocal, if this post (via Sykes Writes) is at all representative.