Groundhog Day.

As a long-time academic and university administrator in the United States, I've attended more meetings than I can remember about what "counts" toward faculty hiring, promotion, tenure, and other rewards at institutions of higher education. These meetings always followed a similar pattern- and sadly, still do. A wise colleague referred to these meetings as "Groundhog Day," after the movie about a single day that repeats over and over again. The process of assessing faculty success has not changed in about 70 years, despite a lot of talk to change things. Why can't universities break out of these ossified patterns?