Bob Mehrabian solidification-vs-welding tenure case (1974)

So Mehrabian liked me, but I didn't like being part of that kind of culture, so I switched to another guy. I actually needed to borrow one of these strip chart recorders, and I saw Bob Mehrabian coming up — his office was right across from our lab on the fourth floor of Building 8 — coming up from the third floor, which is where department headquarters used to be. I wanted to ask him if I could borrow a strip chart recorder from Flemings' group. Bob was now an associate professor without tenure. He had progressed up, and Flemings had gotten him a professorship and he had been promoted. He was really upset. How could I tell he's upset? He ran in the door, I walked in behind him, and he was picking up books and throwing them against the wall. I said, what's the matter Bob, you look upset. He says, you're damn right I'm upset. I said, what about? He says, do you know what Walter Owen just told me? Walter Owen was the department head — this would have been '72 or '74, probably '74, the year I would have graduated. I said, what did Walter Owen just tell you? He says, he told us if I stay in solidification I won't get tenure, but if I switch to something like welding I will get tenure.