A Decent Level of Tranquility

Abstract

“Tenure was originally invented to protect radical professors, those who challenged the accepted order. But we don’t have such people anymore at the universities, and the reason is tenure. When the time comes to grant it nowadays, the radicals get screened out. That’s its principal function. It’s a very good system, really – keeps academic life at a decent level of tranquility.” – John Kenneth Galbraith. A Tenured Professor. 1990. Houghton-Mifflin. Quote reposted by Herbert Mitgang in “Book of the Times: Galbraith The Novelist In An Economic Fairy Tale” in The New York Times by February 24, 1990 https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/24/books/books-of-the-times-galbraith-the-novelist-in-economic-fairy-tale.html