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Which colleges will survive?

Started by nebo113, April 22, 2020, 05:26:43 AM

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Wahoo Redux

Just asking because your attitudes and opinions are so extreme.  I wonder why you come here or work in academia when you seem to hate it so much. 

You know that not all provosts are like "Bob," and I only believe about half of what our friend Polly posts anyway.  Her attitudes and opinions are also very extreme. 

For whatever it is worth, the money the voter kicks up to us is worth the cost.  Yes, yes, yes, I understand that college could be done better----but what couldn't?  And one of the things that hamstrings college is the money we have to work with.

And again, look at the support, look for yourself.  People want college.  They are willing to support it, not all, of course, but enough. 
Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring
Your Winter-garment of Repentance fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To flutter--and the Bird is on the Wing.

mahagonny

I think a big thing that hamstrings college is the dynamic of the 'winners/losers' scenario in place of what could be a sort of family. I'm not saying a family where no one ever fights. But just a workforce where no one is on the receiving end of that duplicitous designation 'temporary faculty.'
Everyone who is there should be understood to be intentional and invested in in some way. The refusal to look at how tenure and its tremendous number of needs feeds that segmentation means that things won't change much.

QuoteYou know that not all provosts are like "Bob," and I only believe about half of what our friend Polly posts anyway.  Her attitudes and opinions are also very extreme. 

I think Provost Bob was real enough. He's so bottom line (cost savings) oriented that he seeks out mid level administrators who will never really advocate for faculty, but will mingle with them energetically and come into their confidence to some degree, mainly by being talkative and available. And finds them.

mahagonny

#47
Quote from: Wahoo Redux on April 28, 2020, 07:35:20 PM
Just asking because your attitudes and opinions are so extreme.  I wonder why you come here or work in academia when you seem to hate it so much. 

They're not extreme at all. They're what my experience generates.
I don't hate the work and the money is manageable. Internally, I am happy.
Sometimes I even
like the work. I hate the hiring practices and workforce structure. And ultimately, altho the pitfalls of the adjunct system are acknowledged, they are entrenched and not really a general concern except where their consequences are an inconvenience to the tenure track. At the same time, the advantages of using the adjunct population are considered an entitlement and not even recognized.
They make me an outsider, and I think like one.