One thing you have to remember is that tenure protects teachers against the religious activists. The religious activists are ALWAYS more motivated and numerous

One thing you have to remember is that tenure protects teachers against the religious activists. The religious activists are ALWAYS more motivated and numerous than any defense that teachers can mount. This is continuous and everlasting. Things like "critical race theory" and its ilk are the current bugaboos. But the "Theory of Evolution" was there in the past. Talking about the documented historical evils that various religions promulgated always sets off the nitwits. Even teaching Canterbury Tales in English and pointing out that the priest has symptoms of syphilis will tend to rile up the local frocks. The problem is that in 1965 talking about the equality of women and minorities was "controversial" enough that it needed to be protected by tenure. And the college campuses were definitely at the epicenter of the equality movements. Right now, I suspect that talking about abortion needs to be protected by tenure. I'm not sure what the right answer is, but destroying tenure is, I suspect, going to do far more damage than good--especially for progressive causes.