The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that faculty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison are upset about by the removal of tenure protection from state statute.

The reaction doesn’t take the form of an unusual number of professors leaving the university. Rather, it takes the form of a “frenzy of recruiting and negotiating.” Lee Gardner writes in the Chronicle (the story is for subscribers only):

At Madison, requests for counteroffers nearly tripled, from 37 during the 2014-15 academic year to 94 in 2015-16 to date.

Counteroffers?

With several cases still pending, the Madison flagship has managed so far to retain 76 of 88 professors who asked for counteroffers. That’s a retention rate of 86 percent, which nearly matches last year’s.

Indeed (in spite of the state budget cuts that have been claimed), the university managed to set aside some $16 million for just such counteroffers.

I thought the issue was a moralistic concern about the potential loss of tenure and loss of academic freedom. Certainly that was the tone of comments by the well-known professor of higher education and sociology Sara Goldrick-Rab. She wrote on her popular blog earlier this year:

But it is no longer possible for critical scholars working in public higher education to flourish without tenure protections. There are daily attacks on the ideas of scholars who challenge current practices and policies employed by university administrators, state legislators, and even governors. McCarthyism is alive and well — especially here in Wisconsin.

But now it seems to be mostly about counteroffers.

Goldrick-Rab did leave. According to the Chronicle, she is making “significantly” more money at Temple University.