Senior academic receives pay mainly to get rid of faculty (6)
I believe the answer is:
deafen
'get rid of faculty' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'senior academic receives pay mainly' is the wordplay.
'senior academic' becomes 'dean' (I've seen this before. I am not sure about the 'senior' bit.).
'receives' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters are received).
'pay' becomes 'fee'.
'mainly' means to remove the last letter (virtually or mainly the word, but not all of it).
'fee' with its final letter taken away is 'fe'.
'dean' placed around 'fe' is 'DEAFEN'.
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for deafen that I've seen before include "Deprive of hearing" , "Be unbearably loud" , "Burst the eardrums" , "Render senseless" , "Drown out" .)