I would say, over time, that tenure and promotion are far less about ideology---that is for the hiring decisions---than they are about old boy/old girl networks. I can think of people who, regardless of their ideology, had no business getting tenure or ever being promoted. But once you get in, make friends, it's hard to get rid of anyone.
I don't know about "ideological stature." Certainly there are number in economics departments that are of a high level: Robert Fogel of U of Chicago, for example, Gordon Wood in history. I have met Dr. Williams, and respect his work, but academically I don't think too many would put him in the top tier. He does more "pop" economics as does Thomas Sowell (and as I do in history now). Our stuff is aimed at explaining concepts to ordinary people, not making a minute research breakthrough that will get cited in a footnote---and believe me, I've had a few of those.
The problem is, as soon as you get to that level, you try to get OUT of departments and into a think tank where all you have to do is write. That's Thomas Sowell, for example. Not sure how much teaching, if any, Victor Davis Hanson does now.
Barzun actually argued for the likes of you, Sowell, and Williams. His argument was that UNLESS you could make ‘esoterica’ accessible to people, you weren’t worth much.
In most fields, the foundational principles are pretty approachable. Anything theoretical becomes doughy and needs artificial, highly conceptual scaffolding around it just to figure out the solid truth at the core of it. Once you get to that core, however, the bridge from ‘old thinking’ to ‘new thinking’ becomes pretty solid and easy to traverse over time.
I have a Boy Scout Troop, and we have started to tell our kids that college, as a goal, shouldn’t be their first option any more. It doesn’t pencil out financially like it used to. However, Cisco Engineers, HVAC guys, plumbers, dental assistants, nurses, and people with skills other people need to get by on a daily basis get jobs.
This came by way of a vote of the parents. We all sat around afterward looking at each other and wondering, “What did we just do?”
Value discipline, the idea that a product is either a) excellent, b) least expensive, or c) most customer intimate, is beginning to dawn on the university/college world.
I loved and got great value out of the classic, four year college educational experience in engineering. It is tragic that at the end of it I could not claim that I had enough knowledge to add value to any other enterprise beside the military (I graduated from one of the federal academies).
As for tenure, my biggest problem with sending my kids to a modern university is the ideological brainwashing that awaits them there, on my nickel. Everything is political now, especially science, and even medicine. I don’t know if tenure helps universities meet legitimate needs in the labor market or not any more. Universities feel like re-education camps more than they do places to get a career skill.
I’ve got three that will be showing up at some campus within the next five years. One is looking at ‘Hard Work U’ - College of the Ozarks if she can get in. Another is looking to work in diabetes (he’s a diabetic since 19 months). The middle kid? Who knows.
I’ll likely push the middle kid to learn a skill he can be competent in that he may not love while he figures out what it is he CAN love.
Anyway, I hate what we are leaving behind for our kids.