I'm a Tenured College Professor. I'm Quitting. Here's Why.
Americans are letting education fall apart. Politicians are helping it.
My last raise was a chocolate bar.
My dean left it in my office mailbox one December. It was one of those chocolate bars that looks like a thousand-dollar bill. He thought it was funny. He said it was his way of showing me how much I was worth.
Now a different dean has asked for my resignation.
I have given it to him.
He has accepted it.
So, it's official.
I'm done. I'm out. I'm giving up my tenure. I earned that tenure through endless nights and weekends in libraries, in front of screens, banging away at deep thoughts on Bakhtin that a few dozen people would read. I earned it grading countless papers and leading countless peer-review workshops. Now, for the first time since my early 20s, there's no more students to shepherd. No more papers to grade. No more pointless department meetings to sit through. No more conferences or professional development workshops that I'm supposed to get reimbursed for, but never do.
It feels weird.
I'm leaving because my univer…