Reply #8: Some years ago, I read a book, THE CLIFF WALK, by a man who didn’t get tenure.

[raccoon]

I could really identify with the author. I’ve never taught at the college level, nor at any level, but in another field I could relate to what happened to the author.

The Cliff Walk: A Memoir of a Job Lost and a Life Found

Don J. Snyder

“Snyder (From the Point, LJ 4/15/88) had to come to grips with reality when he learned he would not be granted tenure as an English professor at Colgate University. Snyder had a wife he adored, three beautiful children, one on the way, and what he thought was a secure, lifetime "dream" job. Sure he would get another job, especially because the Student Honor Society had nominated him each spring for "Professor of the Year," Snyder was caught off balance when he received 90 rejections. Inertia, depression, and despair set in as he awaited another teaching position that never came. Snyder details the various painful stages his family had to go through, from selling their house to buying food with food stamps. When he could no longer take it, he accepted a job as a day laborer to provide for his family. Snyder writes with skill, insight, and sensitivity. Given the current upheaval in the status of tenure--and, indeed, the upheaval caused by downsizing generally--Snyder's book is timely”

http://www.amazon.com/Cliff-Walk-Memoir-Lost-Found/dp/0316803480