Rather than enable people to experiment, it makes people risk-averse. Tenure does not move people toward creativity, but rather toward conformity. Assistant professors are socialized to publish articles rather than take risks. It is argued that tenure does not enable faculty to focus on teaching excellence. State legislatures and the public want faculty to do more teaching.
Critics assert that tenure makes such a goal impossible.
Tenure rewards research, goes the thinking, and if we want to change priorities then we need to get rid of tenure. Opponents argue that tenure only protects those with tenure. Again, rather than creating a democratic organizational structure that enables all people to be creative and innovative, it is said, we have a system where senior professors with structured employment contracts control the texture of academic life so that those who do not conform will find themselves in jeopardy. Finally, critics say that we might have needed tenure to support academic freedom a long time ago, but not today. We are more enlightened and enjoy legal protections.