Will This Model Work?

I receive and enjoy the weekly Clarion Call from the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy. I recently read The Lindenwood Model on their recommendation. The book describes the changes implemented by Lindenwood University in St. Louis in the 1990s which staved off financial collapse. In brief, the University abolished tenure, increased faculty teaching loads to five classes per semester, and eliminated support for faculty research. I don't know if I agree with these recommendations, but am willing to consider that this could be a viable mode of operation for colleges and universities, at least in some segment of the higher education market.

My bigger concern is whether this is a viable option for many universities in the long run. I believe that many people pursue a Ph. D. in hopes of eventually landing a job as a professor for the purpose of being able to do research. Lindenwood is eliminating the main attraction to the professorate for many would-be professors. A person can teach high school, which from my perspective Lindenwood amounts to, without spending 6 years in graduate school. One university can always employ this model and hire people who have made the sunk investment of earning a doctorate and are unable to secure regular faculty employment else where. But these people went to grad school hoping to land a job at a school where they could do research. So even if one grants that the model works for Lindenwood, it is not clear that it offers what the book's subtitle suggests, An Antidote for What Ails Undergraduate Education.