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tiffany cufflinksWhere people come down on these questions is mostly a matter of values - for instance, efficiency versus unconstrained inquiry. And in general where people stand depends on where they sit. A noteworthy exception? College presidents. A survey released last month found that most of them preferred long-term or short term contracts to tenure. Private college presidents were even more skeptical of tenure than their public counterparts. Compromise proposals to modify tenure without ending it have been floated. Ideas include making it renewable or using fixed term contracts instead of a lifetime term. But where states including Minnesota, Florida, and Arizona have tried to modify tenure, the opposition has been vehement and reforms have amounted to little. Higher education economics, meanwhile, are increasingly making tenure obsolete in favor of adjuncts and contract teaching anyway. Forget professors for a moment, that trend is not necessarily good for students, universities, or states either. 

As a once and future adjunct myself, the adjunct system is terrific for people like me who only want to teach part time, but it's terrible for people seeking to be professional academics and it's at odds with part of the scholarly mission of universities. So perhaps it is time for a tenure brawl in higher education, and time to take the ideas to mend - rather than end - tenure more seriously. Otherwise, before too long the point may become academic. We've done some amazing things together," Beck, flanked by at least one bodyguard, told viewers as he showed them the view of the set from the street, noting the bulletproof glass that was installed "for a myriad of reasons." Beck then rolled a four-minute highlight reel of his greatest hits spanning his two-and-a-half years on the air: Acorn, the 9/12 Project, his Restoring Honor rally in Washington, D.C., last summer. (The montage also included testimonials from viewers found on the street.) "It's been an amazing ride," he said backstage, surrounded by some of the show's familiar props, including chalk ("We buy by the case," he said).

"I've made some amazing friends, namely, you." Beck spent most of the hour looking back. "We made a lot of enemies on this program," he said, from "the president to the Republicans to George Soros." "We have not only survived," he said. "We have thrived." He dismissed his frequent critics, like Jon Stewart, who Beck mocked for having a team of writers to produce a six-minute monologue on "The Daily Show." Beck boasted his two-man writing team helps him craft his 42-minutes a night. "It's easy to speak from the heart," he said. Beck also mocked the criticism itself. "I'm the first Anti-Semitic Jew lover," he said. "I don't know how that's even possible." While his relationship with some in the News Corp. building has frayed, Beck took time out to thank Fox News chief Roger Ailes ("I won't work with a smarter person ever"), News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch and primetime star Bill O'Reilly "for their trust."

orthern New Mexico College, Georgia State University, San Diego State University, and Florida State College at Jacksonville topped the list with tuition increases hovering around 50 percent since 2007. But many public universities are still much more expensive than those doing the most egregious tuition-raising. You can use the Ed Department tool to find out which colleges--private or public--are most expensive overall, even after scholarship and grants are taken into account. The University of Texas Health Center at San Antonio topped the public universities' most expensive list at $24,192 in net costs per year for an in-state student. Pennsylvania State University, Miami University at Oxford, Rowan University, St. Mary's College of Maryland, and University of Guam followed closely behind. A pricey four-year private college will set you back by a lot more, however: Bates, Connecticut, Middlebury, Union, and Colby Colleges all had tuitions of more than $50,000 per year, including fees and room and board. After scholarships and grants are taken into account, the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., is the most expensive, at $39,672 per year.