ABSTRACT
This chapter explains some common problems attendant to holding onto an appointment. If academics were guided by the principle of merit, then it would follow that those who lose their posts do so primarily because they have been judged incompetent. All published materials of the ad hoc committees which provided any information about the conditions leading to dismissal were utilized. A careful examination of the dismissals for the years 1963-70 reveals several additional factors. It hardly needs to be pointed out that a fundamental belief that has nurtured the growth of industrial unions is that there is an inherent conflict of interest between managers and employees. If unionization of faculty means, on the one hand, curtailing the powers of academic-administrators and governing boards through explicit and rational principles of management, it might also mean, on the other, the ultimate abolition of faculty self-government.
