They see tenure as protecting the most intransigent part of the university's management process. They see administration as to slow to act and not truly managing. Many of the trustees have gone through the pain of downsizing and change in their businesses. They see higher education needing to change by eliminating unprofitable programs and activities. To do this they will change the management of the institutions just as the boards of IBM and GM did.
Trustees are single minded in assuring the financial health of the institution.
The challenges to tenure, whether successful or not, are just the beginning of real change to improve the bottom line. Yes, there is a bottom line requirement for universities too. For IBM and GM the outside world changed and they ignored it. For years IBM was a virtual monopoly in computers. GM also had a market share of sixty plus percent.