Professor's Blog May Have Cost Him Tenure

Well-known economic and political blogger Daniel Drezner was denied tenure, and will have to seek a new job. The University of Chicago's political science department had to decide whether or not to grant tenure to Drezner, and chose not to do so. The department's head, Dali Yang, did not rule out Drezner's blog explained to the Sun why he remains anonymous: Another risk for academic bloggers is that their content - particularly postings that are political in nature - will offend professors in their departments. There's a "fear that something they post will politically be alienating to some colleagues," Mr. Volokh, who gained tenure three years before joining the blogosphere in 2002, told the Sun. That concern weighs more heavily on his pseudonymous co-blogger, who wrote: "I tend to be conservative/libertarian on most issues. While my colleagues know this, it's not in my interest to remind them of my views, particularly when presented in a non-academic way." That point could be a factor with Drezner as well. A Google search on Daniel Drezner returns his site as the first result, with this text: The personal weblog of a libertarian/conservative University of Chicago political science professor. Maybe the tenure denial wasn't about the blog after all. David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business. Email him