In general, the media have been eager to report from the fronts of particularly nasty tenure battles but have been much less consistent in examining the assumptions that underlie the challenges to tenure. One of the only points of complete agreement among the bashers, reformers, and defenders of tenure is that the media have done a poor job of educating the public. They don't necessarily see it reflected in increased quality. And academe has done little to respond to these concerns. This public perception, not surprisingly, translates directly into media representations of tenure, which tend to assume that job security and high costs go together.
Older workers cost more.
Not tenured workers. You would have to compensate them for job insecurity. That has indeed been the case at Missouri's Webster University , where the administration offers the faculty a choice between traditional tenure appointments and term contracts at equal pay with more frequent sabbaticals. What the university gains is more flexibility in firing faculty, but this comes at the price of reduced teaching loads. These faculty now represent more than 40 percent of all college instructors.