Tenure Used To Protect Incompetent Employees

I receive comments from faculty members that the personnel problems at a university are different from the personnel problems in private industry.  I have been in both academia and private industry.  The personnel problems are exactly the same.  However, the rights of an employee that protect that employee from discrimination or other illegal conduct are adequate because of present statutory law, not because of a “tenure” concept.  Employers who abuse employees or discriminate against them in any manner face serious legal consequences.  One difference between the private sector and academia is that statutory rights of an employee in private industry do not protect the employee from incompetence or misconduct.

Tenure can be and has too often been used to protect incompetent employees.

Remember that tenure creates a lifetime employment contract between the university and the professor which in reality cannot be terminated by the university.