Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Mark C. Taylor, a former colleague, raises some good points. Abolishing tenure is not one of them.

Fellow professors across the country will be surprised at the hidden inference that tenure is now old-fashioned because McCarthyism is dead. It was only a few months ago that Sarah Palin attacked Barack Obama for associating with “yet another radical professor from the neighborhood.”

Tenure protects free thinkers (like Mr. Taylor) from the pitchforks of the current mob, and until human nature changes will always be needed.

Steven B. Gerrard
Williamstown, Mass., April 27, 2009
The writer is a professor of philosophy and chairman of the Program in Jewish Studies at Williams College.

Note from KBJ: The letter writer has identified one benefit of the tenure system. He has said nothing about its costs. Surely a philosopher can do better than that!