The Fora: A Higher Education Community

Morning!

Losing track of the days. But QBw2LL, last word lacuna. 2fer profiled-demagogue.

Yes, I hear Lascaux 2 (and 3) did a great job. But still, it reminds me of going to New Orleans for the first time and thinking wow, this looks just like New Orleans Square at Disneyland! Um...

Quote from: jimbogumbo on May 10, 2024, 02:28:11 PM

Quote from: methodsman on May 07, 2024, 02:04:13 PM.   And, no, contrary to popular belief, the growth in administrators is not the cause of most
institutions' demise. 
mm

Maybe, but it sure doesn't help. Here is a recent Atlantic piece: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/no-one-knows-what-universities-are-for/ar-BB1m2mbD

QuoteThe world has more pressing issues than overstaffing at America's colleges. But it's nonetheless a real problem that could be a factor in rising college costs.

Okay, granted.  But it is also a very serious problem.  American higher ed is approaching deep crisis, if it is not there already.  We seem to have progressed to a state in which education----a cornerstone of civilization----is being both over prescribed and taken for granted.

And the protests aren't helping.

Attenuating our colleges is serious business.  Peeps should keep that in mind.

QuoteAfter all, higher education is a labor-intensive industry in which worker compensation is driving inflation, and for much of the 21st century, compensation costs grew fastest among noninstructional professional positions. Some of these job cuts could result in lower graduation rates or reduced quality of life on campus. Many others might go unnoticed by students and faculty. In the 2018 book Bullshit Jobs: A Theory, David Graeber drew on his experience as a college professor to excoriate college admin jobs that were "so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence even though, as part of the conditions of employment, the employee feels obliged to pretend that this is not the case." 

Another reason to care about the growth of university bureaucracy is that it siphons power away from instructors and researchers at institutions that are—theoretically—dedicated to instruction and research. In the past few decades, many schools have hired more part-time faculty, including adjunct professors, to keep up with teaching demands, while their full-time-staff hires have disproportionately been for administration positions. As universities shift their resources toward admin, they don't just create resentment among faculty; they may constrict the faculty's academic freedom.

And DEI sure seems to be a pinata these days. 

Quote"Take something like diversity, equity, and inclusion," Ginsberg said. "Many colleges who adopt DEI principles have left-liberal faculty who, of course, are in favor of the principles of DEI, in theory," he said. But the logic of a bureaucracy is to take any mission and grow its power indefinitely, whether or not such growth serves the underlying institution. "Before long, many schools create provosts for diversity, and for equity, and for inclusion. These provosts hold lots of meetings. They create a set of principles. They tell faculty to update their syllabi to be consistent with new principles devised in those meetings. And so, before long, you've built an administrative body that is directly intruding on the core function of teaching."

Who pays for all these chaplains, and who decides which groups would warrant having a chaplain of theirs hired?

Quote from: jimbogumbo on May 10, 2024, 02:29:52 PMIn support of an opinion upthread from Wahoo: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/protest-effectiveness-research/678292/

Today's students are relying on the zeitgeist of their grandparents.  Volatile protests, protest signs, marches, slogans, chants, camp-outs, occupations----all 1970s.

Then there is the rightwing media distorting in typical fashion.  My father-in-law had FOX News on his TV today, and considerable coverage was dedicated to "the anti-Israel protests" of college students with cherrypicked footage of students resisting arrest and, of course, a professor complaining about police brutality. 

Quote from: secundem_artem on May 10, 2024, 03:07:07 PMSomebody somewhere is making a mint selling keffiyehs to  white college kids who didn't even know what those things were 6 weeks ago.

Try Amazon where keffiyeh scarves, made in China, sell for under $10. Type "keffiyeh scarf Vivian and Vincent" in the Amazon search bar for details regarding price and place of origin.

Quote from: Parasaurolophus on May 10, 2024, 08:53:52 AMJust a chunk of T1 today.

Did my chunk.

Most journals I Have been submitting to recently ask for both a .docx AND a PDF version of the main manuscript...

Quote from: secundem_artem on May 10, 2024, 03:07:07 PMSomebody somewhere is making a mint selling keffiyehs to  white college kids who didn't even know what those things were 6 weeks ago.

Brando in "The Wild One" [1953]:

"Hey, Johnny, what are you rebelling against?"
"Whaddya got?"

Somebody somewhere is making a mint selling keffiyehs to  white college kids who didn't even know what those things were 6 weeks ago.

In support of an opinion upthread from Wahoo: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/protest-effectiveness-research/678292/