Honestly, it is a pretty bad solution. However, it was sufficiently shielded from politics that bypassing that shield was difficult for decades.
Pretty much any alternative is purely governed by populous whims because it is no longer the "norm" but "some unique thing we do".
Now, if you can get a constitutional amendment passed that solves the things tenure is truly needed for [such as abuse of position to engage in de factor or outright bans of topics like evolution]...sure. I can see a better solution there.
However, I don't see a better solution happening :/
Pretty much any alternative is purely governed by populous whims because it is no longer the "norm" but "some unique thing we do".
Now, if you can get a constitutional amendment passed that solves the things tenure is truly needed for [such as abuse of position to engage in de factor or outright bans of topics like evolution]...sure. I can see a better solution there.
However, I don't see a better solution happening :/