<p>You have all raised some excellent points. I teach at a public institution that is no longer hiring faculty on tenure track due to both budget and legal constraints. While that is certainly an issue, another issue to consider that I didn’t see (apologize if I missed it in this long thread) is the issue of foreign professors who posess competency in their discipline, but lack adequate English language skills to effectively communicate with students. Son has had two classes that presented challenges in three years of education and both have been due to this problem. The Dean of his college told me that it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract PhDs in certain disciplines and that means more foreign hires. S had one of these freshman year and the prof was removed from the class and placed in a program to develop improved language skills. The university responded to both parent/student complaints and to the prof’s weaknesses in a prompt, compassionate way that allowed all to make the best of a bad situation, but it was still a bad situation. I would be more concerned about this kind of problem than a faculty comprised largely of non-tenure track full-time lecturers.</p>