Keep tenure or academics will hire incompetents.

Ilya Somin at Volokh writes:

In a recent post, Orin (relying on an argument by H. Lorne Carmichael) cites faculty self-selection as an argument for tenure:

The basic idea is that tenure is a necessary evil because faculties vote on who to let join them: If professors know that their own jobs will be in jeopardy if they hire someone better than themselves, they will make sure that they only hire incompetent new people.

This is indeed a much stronger argument for tenure than the usual academic freedom rationale, which I criticized here. Still, I’m not persuaded.

The Volokh Conspiracy is a lawblog which seems to attract legal profs, lawyers and a smattering of other academics.  That tenure is required to keep professors from hiring incompetents seems to be such an argument against interest - the ethics of academics - that I though it would be ridiculed.  But no; Somin doesn't say that academics would do no such thing ... he says he's not persuaded.

You have to stare in wonder at the academic establishment.