Imagine for a moment a system of renewable appointments, perhaps for periods of six years, with a guaranteed sabbatical at the end of each contractual period. The sabbatical would not carry the unenforceable requirement that the faculty member return to teaching. In the case of a faculty member whose contract was renewed, it would provide time for study and reflection, after which the scholar might choose to return or take the opportunity to change jobs. In the case of a faculty member who was not renewed, it would function as a generous severance package. Let me list a few advantages of this system.
Mobility is the first one.
The same courses, the same methods, the same feuds continue until someone dies or retires. More-frequent moves, in my view, would be beneficial for individual scholars, who would be exposed to the stimulation of different kinds of students, colleagues, and courses. Such mobility also would benefit departments, which would start to look less like clubs and more like working groups in business. My own batteries were recharged by moving, and I believe that departments fortunate enough to have fairly frequent turnover become more lively places as interesting new people arrive each year. A contract system would spread these benefits more widely.