Rolling higher education into the shitbin thread

I thought this was OTM (h/t j): https://www.chronicle.com/article/When-Academic-Solidarity-/249086?key=hsZMErKIgGC276GPIxqHkdtWpPJPmTDez0sVEOxaQSBEq2np2vOTiSg-ZL1RCw7NeVlJQUlXMG1NWV9ZYXpHU005dlBQSm9EX3VycWFVcVBHTHJQZFh1bmRoYw

Haha, I see that he was actually a bit critical - I was OTMing it on the assumption that by letting go of adjuncts (who are handling a massive amount of the teaching rn) and requiring f/t faculty to take on heavier teaching loads, the inevitable result would be an increase in the # of f/t teaching positions that would be created, many of which would go to those erstwhile adjuncts. There was briefly a move towards doing this at the two big local universities and under the previous provincial govt and a number of sessionals did get f/t teaching positions.

Not going to lie: if I could get even a full-time NTT position, I'd be overjoyed.

Yeah, the difference in working conditions and respect was so huge that it was impossible to go back to sessional teaching after leaving a f/t VAP.

For me personally ofc; lots of smart, accomplished people do it.

In my experience, the more elite the institution, the more it is the norm for research academics to consider teaching to be burdensome “grunt work.” The exploitation of adjuncts is the natural outgrowth of such an attitude.

i think she's one of those crypto-back-to-tradition-my-intellectual-life-is-apolitical types? but i don't know positively

anyway yeah it is gobsmacking to read a comfortably-positioned academic casually toss off a line like 'let the adjuncts go'. i asked her about it on twitter—she says she was merely addressing an argument to those with power, tenured faculty, while adjuncts should hahahaha take up grass-roots intellectual tasks outside the academy—whether she wasn't just assuming that those with power should keep it and those without it now should keep on not having it, and she came back with some hand-waving about pragmatism and vocation and labor. i don't really think she's thought some things through.

Which incentives do you think she is overlooking, Euler?xp

i don't understand how addressing an argument to those with power makes it any better - if anything it seems to make it much worse that she's endorsing this course of action to ppl best in place to execute it???

i have been thinking about this since u first mentioned it. "don't worry about my plan to screw marginalized employees of the academy i'm only making the case to your betters." how is this not "don't be concerned that i'm trying to feed you to predators i'm just pitching the idea to the lions"

Yeah, like I said, I assumed she was advocating for effectively making all uni teaching part of full-time jobs, many of which would go to the people who had experience doing them part-time. It occurs to me that I may have been projecting that into the piece.

i think she imagines that because a lot of tenured types are in it for the research or the cushy conference per diems they would jet once they had to teach more than a 1/2 and that would open up spots for the ~true teachers~, the current powerholders would thus be the benefactors of those pedagogical hopefuls who are currently on the outside of power

but there is definitely an emphasis on shrinkage, so she can hardly believe that taking this action would be likely to preserve rather than eliminating jobs

it's just the kind of junk you would expect a st johns full-timer (they have their own revolving system of temps!!) to preen about like they were the only institution in existence that understood teaching and learning

The incentives I’m thinking of: adjuncts get paid less, can’t mobilize as readily, can be fired easily: all aspirations of the ruling class.

The working conditions and job security of tenured faculty in the USA are exceptional in that country, and those faculty should advocate for the extension of these conditions to every worker. I don’t think she’s making that argument.

Haha OK well MY argument is do this part of it and also convert p/t teaching positions into f/t gigs:

Fight for a smaller administration. Fight for reduced research requirements. Fight for a single pay scale that includes administrators, and, yes, coaches and top-flight surgeons. Fight for smaller class sizes, and for greater freedom in the classroom. Fight for greater faculty governance,

There is a lot of confusion in that article.

The one takeaway I can agree with is that tenured faculty often consider teaching to be grunt work. I can't count the number of times that people
with tenure I know and otherwise respect have said awful, demeaning things about their students and teaching loads. From my perspective, many tenured professors seem totally uninterested in teaching, or even scholarship. I've published more in the past two years than 90% of the tenured faculty in my department at my R1 school, yet I have little to no chance of ever getting a full time teaching job, despite years of fantastic evaluations from students and supervisors. I could go on and on, but some particular bits of that piece ring especially true.

OK, I actually have no idea what she is talking about here (which she has repeated a few times on Twitter, it seems):

I was addressing the people with power: tenured faculty. If I were addressing contingent faculty, I would tell them that their vast talent and dedication can be put to wonderful use in the grassroots intellectual enterprises that this country desperately needs.

— Zena Hitz (@zenahitz) June 30, 2020

ahh, the grassroots, didn't know they were hiring... how's their health insurance these days?

She seems confused

I'm not sure that she is confused tbh. Her point is not quite what I originally took it to be but I think she is actually pretty clear on what it is and is handwaving away the question of "what will the adjuncts do instead?", in part bc she seems to doubt it will be much worse than what they do now. She wants tenured faculty to take on heavier teaching, service, and admin loads; control administrative bloat; and, yep, she really does want mass layoffs of contingent faculty afaict:

Is lecturing 4/4 or 5/5 for peanuts and without security really the best use of your talent? Why are you doing this? Serious question.

— Zena Hitz (@zenahitz) June 30, 2020

Oh, OK, sorry j, I see you addressed a lot of this and think I found the tweets of yours you mentioned.

Agree this is the basic hole:

whether she wasn't just assuming that those with power should keep it and those without it now should keep on not having it

Her target is research university tenured faculty. Adjuncts are just collateral damage.

She's confused because she doesn't address some of the underlying reasons behind the meteoric rise of contingent faculty in the US, and also assumes that there are scads of jobs out there for those who aren't tenured. There are not. She is as delusional as an adjunct who thinks they can work their way up.

Also anyone who treats adjuncts as collateral damage can fuck right off.

Damning the people who are doing most of the actual work of the university to rescue the university is some next level dumb ass shit.

we had to destroy the village in order to save it

Damning the people who are doing most of the actual work of the university to rescue the university is some next level dumb ass shit.

Of course it's a story we all know. But it still is 100% stupid.

Faculty governance has been all but erased at my school. We have been fighting (hard! with many negative consequences!) for what seems like forever (almost a decade?). We are a young mission-based teaching institution and research/publishing has never been expected.

Is lecturing 4/4 or 5/5 for peanuts and without security really the best use of your talent? Why are you doing this? Serious question.

^^^ that hit home but the answer is "because there is no other outlet for my talent that will pay me." Teaching as a skill/talent is so chronically undervalued in this country (USA) and sadly I don't see that changing anytime soon. I will hang on as long as I can.

Ding ding ding! Like it's not like I ever expected to make a ton of money as a prof, but who else is going to pay me for my talent and knowledge base?

I started my own online workshops that are going well, but without scaling up significantly, one workshop is about 2 mortgage payments with nothing left over.

Yeah I’ve tossed around the idea of workshops but my parallel issue is a lifelong repulsion at branding, including (especially?) branding myself.

I’m working on getting a website together and I’m getting over it but all I really want in my perfect world is an institution to lend my skill to + the chance to reach students who benefit from my teaching + a life outside of work where I can be social and creative.

Instead I’m going to have to hustle to sell myself 😢 at least I can accept that now.

I definitely thrive in cooperative environments much more than competitive ones. That’s why my institution was such a good fit for me for so many years.

a lifelong repulsion at branding, including (especially?) branding myself

You and me both. Just thinking about it makes me want to retch, it's utterly visceral.

Higher ed: the sunk cost fallacy.

(holy shit)

Unless yours is the winning ticket.

every time i get an email from the administration about plans for the fall i have a panic attack. really excited to be at the top of my pedagogical game in seven weeks.

have they told you what game you'll be playing yet

omg maura super otm
i have not been told anything either

honestly i am sort of glad i taught over the summer bc it has given me time to better acclimate to the online environment and prepare at least one course that i can teach again in the fall without sweating the living shit out of it

seeing an email from our university president describing protocols for the return of students to campus in fall. re dorms, "beds in shared rooms will be separated by at least 6 feet" LOL GET THE FUCK OUT

Unbelievable. These people are living in a fantasy world

i don’t know what it’ll be like. i always have a hybrid class anyway but i do not feel good about going to campus. but if i don’t teach how can i afford my $500/month insurance premium, lol

meanwhile at purdue:

I feel safer already. This will most definitely be fine. pic.twitter.com/Ay99KyEvzH

— David Atkinson (@drdaveatkinson) July 9, 2020

Jeez Louise.

what the f

https://movie-fanatic-res.cloudinary.com/iu/s--qMWTMzeD--/t_full/cs_srgb,f_auto,fl_strip_profile.lossy,q_auto:420/v1408553550/naked-gun-full-body-condom.png

lol

i'm gonna miss all the radical left indoctrination training and meetings :(

Too many Universities and School Systems are about Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education. Therefore, I am telling the Treasury Department to re-examine their Tax-Exempt Status...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2020

xpost - it's a good thing air stops circulating completely about 7 feet above the floor level. that's a foolproof plan!