--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> [Graeber's anthro colleague has a point - almost no
> one ever gets
> tenure at Yale. Still, since they've given him a
> year's sabbatical,
> he must have something on them.]
>
>
You always get a terminal year, pretty much. It doesn't mean they have something on him. I did, I never heard of any fired tenure track person who didn't get a terminal year. If he was up for sabbatical anyway, he was entitled to take his terminal year as a sabbatical. If not, it might mean that they (a) didn't want him in the classroom or hanging around the dept, or (b) were giving him a consolation prize.
It is true that tenure is hard to come by, harder yet at a place like Yale; also that at a private institution -- unlike at my situation, where I worked at a state school -- his colleagues are entirely legally justified in firing him for his political beliefs and actions. Which doesn't mean that it isn't repulsive for them to exercise that right.
He'll probably come out all right. Unlike the situation with David Abraham (Do people remember him?), he's leaving Yale without an attack on his character as a scholar, basically glowing recommendations, and the opportunity to make someone look good at Yale's expense. I predict that he lands a tenured position at a top (Michigan, Berkeley) or second-rank state school (Virginia, UNC), or a second tier but good private school (Northwestern, Georgetown).
I don't mean to be glib. I know what it's like to lose your job because of politics. It sucks. But he's in a good position as far as people in that position go.
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