I just read somewhere that "what yesterday challenged orthodoxy could become orthodoxy in the future. That’s how change occurs." Can't recall where and who said it, but it sure seemed to make sense in a variety of contexts. The Boston Globe's overdue questioning of the Catholic Archdiocese in that city comes to mind.

I also saw recently in Oregon Quarterly that "Schill plans to hire 100 tenure-related faculty members in addition to replacing professors who will retire or leave. Each professor will need to be proficient at scholarship and teaching."

Eliminating tenure at Oregon would seem to mean also searching for yet another president, at which this university has become famously practiced. Maybe, just maybe, Lillis's asking the question wasn't tantamount to his firing a starter's pistol.