We have heard little from Mississippi State University lately, after University officials successfully bought off Professors Glamser and Stringer.

Even the titilating website,"firethames.com," has closed up shop.

Should we be surprised? Probably not. Faculties are made up mostly of selfish and self-centered egoists who do not define themselves as members of the same class, and whose sense of collective interests, therefore, is deeply stunted. We behave as if we were singular little monads, and among us, narcissism as a character trait is our most telling feature. It's a good thing, too: without a heavy coating of narcissism we would have little else to defend ourselves against the fraud and perfidy of the administrative ruling class.

The consequence, however, is a social system in which people are encouraged to sell out for peanuts. Glamser and Stringer, whatever the merits of their case, carried more than the weight of their individual interests. They were seen, correctly, as symptomatic of a larger problem, i.e., the erosion of faculty governance and the decline of academic freedom. But Mississippi administrators knew something else: that faculty members almost always sell out when the rewards are high enough or the penalties too severe. It doesn't take much, either -- faculty members always sell themselves very cheaply.

You can bet administrators throughout the country took notice, and the next time tenure is threatened, they will feel emboldened.

Glamser and Stringer may have"won" their bit of coin, and can now slide into a mellow retirement. Their victory, however, is our loss, and we will all pay dearly for it in the years to come.