I've been closely following this issue because of an esoteric interest: New Testament historical-critical scholarship. How would loss of tenure and consequent loss of academic freedom impact New Testament scholarship?

Well, one of the leading scholars in the field is Bart Ehrman at Chapel Hill. He probably counts among the ten most productive scholars in his field, besides publishing popular works to explain his scholarship to the general reader.

Chapel Hill, influenced by right-wing political pressure, is seriously considering abolishing tenure.

This move would be disastrous for Dr. Ehrman, because even though his field is esoteric — and even though he is a very careful scholar whose peers respect him enormously even when they don't agree with all his conclusions — his views are intensely controversial among non-scholars.

Right-wing Christians as a rule want to silence Ehrman, notwithstanding the fact that his scholarship is careful and that he's widely acknowledged as advancing the field significantly in his area of expertise.

If Chapel Hill abolishes tenure, Ehrman will be highly vulnerable to political pressure to either not publish at all or to self-censor.

He has written in favor of keeping academic freedom sacrosanct, and he's suggested that if Chapel Hill goes through with abolishing tenure, he will have no choice but to leave the university so he can continue his research unbeholden to politicians and others outside his field.

This is what the loss of academic freedom means, that cutting-edge scholars advancing human knowledge will in some cases stop advancing knowledge.

The Academy must be free from political influence. Scholars must be free to go where facts, evidence, and data lead them.