… The Faculty Lounges (as in takes it easy — because it’s tenured) wants UD to review it, so when UD gets her copy she will rouse herself from her tenured stupor, read it, and write a review of it for Inside Higher Ed.
The book’s Amazon page features several reviewers saying horrible things about tenured professors. Pretty much the nicest is “this self-obsessed caste.”
Texas has been breathing down the neck of the tenured lately. Tenure doesn’t fit the corporate model.
For my money, Richard Chait’s work on tenure is the best around (his introduction to this collection sets out the pros and cons nicely), but I’m looking forward to finding out whether Riley has stuff to add to the debate.
August 2nd, 2011 at 3:57AM
I bought it, read it, and thought it was a pretty sloppy rehash of things that others have said better, supported with factoids and anecdotes, many of them pretty dulled by repetition. But what do I know?
August 2nd, 2011 at 6:10AM
tony: I won’t be surprised if I have a similar reaction. It’s pitched to a very broad audience, I guess – look at its cover – and I’ve wondered whether it might be mainly a lot of stories rather than arguments. But I’m looking forward to reading it.