Graduate Education is the 'Detroit' of Higher Learning?

This op-ed in The New York Times by Mark C. Taylor struck an immediate nerve, jumping to first place on the Times "most emailed" list within hours of its posting, which was under the title, "End the University as We Know It":

If American higher education is to thrive in the 21st century, colleges and universities, like Wall Street and Detroit, must be rigorously regulated and completely restructured. The long process to make higher learning more agile, adaptive and imaginative can begin with six major steps:

The suggested steps are, quoting only lead-in snippets:

1. "Restructure the curriculum, beginning with graduate programs and proceeding as quickly as possible to undergraduate programs";
2. "Abolish permanent departments, even for undergraduate education, and create problem-focused programs";
3. "Increase collaboration among institutions";
4. "Transform the traditional dissertation";
5. "Expand the range of professional options for graduate students"; and
6. "Impose mandatory retirement and abolish tenure."