This week I found myself advocating for abolishing tenure at universities. Since giving up tenure myself (and seeing how the private sector operates) I’ve become confident that experimenting with (higher paid) merit-based contracts would be a smart move for universities that want to attract and retain the best & brightest. No one who is productive likes being surrounded by people who aren’t pulling their weight, and the bad behavior (bullying, harassment) that tenure protects creates a toxic work environment that people with options will try to avoid. On top of this, I don’t think tenure protects intellectual freedom nearly as much as we all like to think it does; if university administrators want you to leave it is easy for them to make you miserable (all new preps every year, perhaps?). I know a lot of rockstar, tenured profs who are looking to leave academia. I bet a merit-based system would make them want to stay.