You have not been paying attention. No tenured researcher was. Plenty of post-docs were, the moment the grant money did not come through. If they have to resort to firing professors, the whole thing is neck-deep in shit. You need at least a decade for someone to end up there. If they leave, they will take their experience with them.

Also, there are things like this: https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/03/umass-disbands-its-en...

This is a lost class. Do it for 4 years and you have a lost generation.

Plenty of PhD offers have been rescinded, and stipend cut.

We don't need more PhDs. People foolish enough to have sought a PhD will benefit as they are now limited to a master's degree, with which their career will be much better.

That is an incredibly short sighted view of the world.