Did you really mean mortality as in "exercising the 2nd Amendment", or morality?

I think they meant mortality as in the old guard that have power and use it to protect their point of view die off and are replaced with a new guard that does the same.

Definitely mortality.

For those unfamiliar with how org structures work in academia/tenure... (at least, assume this is still true)

Once attaining tenure, your promotion track focuses on faculty leadership positions.

These positions are selected by a combination of administration & faculty. It varies institute to institute, but strong candidates usually have backing from both.

These positions are almost always held by tenured faculty, as non-tenure is looked down upon for historical/political reasons.

Note: You only need to please 2 types of stakeholders: administration & faculty.

Ergo, the path to promotion becomes:

   - Make tenure
   - Politick with faculty colleagues
   - Politick with administration
   - Wait for someone to die

This leads to a weird bent where your bosses (faculty) are selected for their ability to navigate political winds and say the thing that most people agree with, moreso than being disagreeably brilliant.