For those who still see tenure primarily as a form of job security, the larger economic context should be plain. No one, not even in the traditional professions, can any longer expect a fixed pattern of employment in the course of his or her lifetime. In this article, the author discusses how this generation is witnessing the merging of the research university with the knowledge corporation. As this eventuality is advancing in industry, what people regard as traditional academic freedom is declining in higher education. For the academic situation to improve, the author suggests that individuals who have tenure-enabled freedoms must be willing to use them to make common cause with those who do not.