And if you have been running an institute for 20 years, step down and allow a successor to breathe new life into it. If you earned your degree in 1960 and feel comfortable deciding the fate of those who completed their degree in the late 1990s, I ask you to consider how your own dissertation or tenure case would have been evaluated by scholars who had earned their Ph.Ds in 1920. There s too great a chance that the work that seems most off-putting the bravest and strangest work will provoke the greatest antipathy. In saying this, I understand that those who have been around a long time, yet are still some of the strongest supporters of young scholars, will have to recuse themselves as well, but I don t really see how else to protect the work of emerging scholars. If you have been honored with an endowed chair for more than 20 years, surrender it.
Honorific chairs are often crucial in departmental recruitment and retention.
In the days before mandatory retirement ended, freeing them up was rarely a problem, since scholars were often given them near the end of illustrious careers. If, after 20 years, you still need a chair to underscore your worth, something is wrong, and the fancy title only masks that. And if you have been running an institute for 20 years, step down and allow a successor to breathe new life into it. Stop applying for competitive fellowships, unless you really need them. As I write, news of the most recent recipients of a major national grant is leaking out.