Certainly the minority, but a large one. > I've read about many dismissals that were challenged, and I've never heard the institution defend itself on the grou

Certainly the minority, but a large one. > I've read about many dismissals that were challenged, and I've never heard the institution defend itself on the grounds that tenure isn't actually guaranteed, but is just a social expectation. Lots of colleges and universities have done layoffs and cut academic programs. They don't even say it's a social expectation, they just say they're laying off faculty and leave it at that, no explanation required. I've never actually heard of a role reduction successfully challenged. The usual cases that get contested are firing for cause, not layoffs. Also: note that even the AAUP allows universities to lay off tenured faculty. They just insist that the non-tenured faculty get axed first. Labor solidarity n'at.