A Tenure Brush War At (Fill-In-The-Blank) University

Here's the story.

This one is occurring at Ohio University.

Especially given the bizarre tragedy in Hunstville, administration at the school is, shall we say...on edge.

Not one hint that the faculty member in question has any capacity for violence, but campus police were called to one of the meetings anyway.  The faculty member wasn't even on campus that day.

In a way, the specifics of this story don't matter. My friends in academia report that tenure is a running brush war within institutions, pitting otherwise (ostensibly) civilized people constantly against one another.

In the meantime, back at Reality Ranch:

This brush war is brought to you by taxpayers, students, alumni, and donors; all of whom, in one way or another, pony up a lot of money to Ohio University.

Mom, Dad: Would you knowingly send your child into academic harm's way, knowing about these behaviors at a potential school? That the faculty and administration of the entire school spend their days wrangling over this stuff?

Student: Do you want to invest years of your life, and incur student debt, in order to study with these people?

Alumni: Does this make you want to bump up your donation from last year?

Taxpayer: Does this make you want to call your local legislator and raise Cain?

On a personal note, OldSouth had the pleasure of spending a week on that campus a few years back. It's tucked away in the hills of eastern Ohio, and the town and university sort of 'meld' into one another.

It was lovely.

OS would not have been upset to see one of his kids choose Ohio University.

Now, not a chance of the proverbial snowball in a hot location.

Hello out there, academia-people. You live in the same world we do.

OS will stop ranting now, and return to his non-tenured business, so he can pay his taxes to support the state universities that spend their energies....