Only gross misconduct or a schoolwide fiscal crisis can cause dismissal. Academics have long argued that because tenure protects them from the whims of the moment, it is crucial to academic freedom. But it's not the only way to foster free inquiry, and it has created major problems. Tenure provides little incentive for faculty to do anything outside their narrow spheres of expertise. As a result, it has turned academe into an inward-looking club where, despite platitudes to the contrary in recent years, neither teaching nor contact with the real world is rewarded.
Ineffective professors can spend decades delivering the same mediocre lectures.
Imagine what B-school profs pondering a case study would say about a company with that policy. While there are thousands of wonderful tenured teachers across the country, the system's weaknesses aren't hypothetical. In core courses at some top schools, such as Stanford and Indiana, MBAs complain of professors who seem to be hardly interested in what they're teaching. Cost is an issue, too. Costs will increase as government support continues to wither and globalization and technology efforts require major investments.