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Paul, you did misrepresent what I said. You said I claimed they were fraudulent, when in fact I was only saying what has already been said. They're not my words, but what's been reported in the press and various articles. Which ones, I can't remember offhand so I can't quote you references. I'm afraid that tenure doesn't mean a job for life. it can be taken away just as easily as it's given, and it's happened to plenty of scientists. Especially ones who have rocked the boat, so to speak. Grants can be tied in with tenure...on a performance basis. You don't perform you don't get the grants you want, you can't teach effectively, then out you go. If a loss of grants, especially those that run to many millions of dollars and involve big projects such as nuclear fusion (or whatever), means livelyhoods and academic reputations are brought into question, those involved will and do fight with anything they can to retain those things. It's happened all too often. Even worse when institutional reputations are brought into it. Nothing worse than having your institutional reputation sullied by someone who has "stepped over the mark".
How long do you think someone's tenure would last there??. About as long as it takes for a positron in a synchrotron to travel a millionth of a millimetre.
Whilst tenure means a position is open for any scientist to take up, and it's generally for the term of their careers, that doesn't mean it's permanent as in written in stone.
When you mix ego with money and reputation, it's an ugly business.
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