Taisu Zhang(@ZhangTaisu):Tongji, one of China’s more prestigious universities, just formally abolished faculty tenure—a move that echoes the rise of “post-tenure review” in some red state American public universities. The Sino-American academic race to the bottom continues, the only difference being that American self-sabotage is mainly driven by politics, whereas Chinese self-sabotage seems to stem from a misguided sense of social Darwinism. In either case, the damage to intellectual risk-taking will be comparably severe.

2026.08.02 18:50

Tongji, one of China’s more prestigious universities, just formally abolished faculty tenure—a move that echoes the rise of “post-tenure review” in some red state American public universities. The Sino-American academic race to the bottom continues, the only difference being that American self-sabotage is mainly driven by politics, whereas Chinese self-sabotage seems to stem from a misguided sense of social Darwinism. In either case, the damage to intellectual risk-taking will be comparably severe.