tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29367161.post7730867357371271944..comments2024-02-11T03:47:47.387-05:00Comments on Lumpenprofessoriat: The Wages of AcademeLumpenProfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11424425909102486647noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29367161.post-7718747024857069442007-09-28T23:37:00.000-04:002007-09-28T23:37:00.000-04:00Random thoughts much later:On why professors aren'...Random thoughts much later:<BR/><BR/>On why professors aren't happy - because it isn't just a job for them?<BR/><BR/>On tenure models - what about no tenure track, just hire to tenure, promote later as in Caracas' university? You'd have to be careful in hiring, of course. But it's an idea.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29367161.post-28293080687717934372007-05-04T13:35:00.000-04:002007-05-04T13:35:00.000-04:00Caracas, lowering the teaching load and increasing...Caracas, lowering the teaching load and increasing wages will be the quickest method of increasing faculty publication and scholary productivity. Good luck fighting the good fight on that front. I'm quite envious of your union shop, despite the grueling meetings and in-fighting that I'm sure still take place. A system of 5 years to tenure is a major accomplishment, though, even if promotion lags behind. Congratulations on that.LumpenProfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11424425909102486647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29367161.post-62551085808299992692007-04-24T07:30:00.000-04:002007-04-24T07:30:00.000-04:00Don't forget that at some universities, tenure doe...Don't forget that at some universities, tenure doesn't mean promotion. We get tenure after our fifth year, but promotion is a separate process, not attempted during your tenure year, and not a foregone conclusion. You have to "wait in line" is how I've heard it described. I know of one person active in the union (afraid I can't agree with you about unionization completely - it's destroyed shared governance at my school) who's been an assistant prof for 15 years. <BR/><BR/>Yes, deadwood is a major problem (with a 4/4 teaching load and a legacy of being a normal school, of course it is), but in our case, ratcheting up standards is a good thing. Lowering the teaching load, now that's the difficult thing, and not one likely accomplished by our non-publishing, adversarial union. <BR/><BR/>And lastly, at my school (oh, how hard that is to say!) apparently promotion doesn't even get you much of a raise, only a raising of the salary cap over time. <BR/><BR/>The discussion of the politics at lower-tier schools being more petty rang true for me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29367161.post-9192484450379195862007-03-19T13:40:00.000-04:002007-03-19T13:40:00.000-04:00The deadwood comments, and a fortuitous quote, hav...The deadwood comments, and a fortuitous quote, have inspired me to write another post on the topic above. <BR/><BR/>Good point, though, about the escalating standards transforming every decision into a borderline case. Paradoxically, the higher standards don't help decide things and instead set the stage for debates on the murkier grounds of collegiality and quality.<BR/><BR/>Also a good comment about the levels of service work being higher for minorities as well as women. That service gets similarly discounted in promotion and tenure decisions at the same time as it sucks time away from their own research.<BR/><BR/>Finally, I see I haven't persuaded everyone that holding the line at 7 years to tenure is a good idea. I'll have to work on making my argument more persuasive, but I'm confident that the current defacto extension of the time to tenure to 10-12 years or more isn't in anyone's best interest.LumpenProfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11424425909102486647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29367161.post-12114264264537558482007-03-15T15:23:00.000-04:002007-03-15T15:23:00.000-04:00Great post here. As someone going into her first ...Great post here. As someone going into her first job that's not tenure-track, I'm frankly scared about the proposal to only have 6 years to tenure. Of course, your proposal includes making reasonable requirements. But for those of us with high (though funded) loads as graduate teaching assistants (2/2 as instructor of record, which is what the t-t faculty teach, though lecturers are of course screwed far more), we don't exactly walk out with our research agendas on track and a couple of publications in pocket. (In fact, my grad university recently reduced the number of fundable years for TAs.) It remains to be seen whether my new post will allow me time to straighten out my research track. <BR/><BR/>Also, just to add to your argument, it is not only women who are burdened with undervalued service commitments. People of color, male and female, often are sought out for service commitments in the name of "diversity" and end up completely over-extended. That these service commitments are undervalued as women and people of color do them is really just a travesty. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for this. I don't want to get rid of tenure. Then there would be no protection for people like Maggie May at muserant.blogspot.com as she does battle with faculty there.Earnest Englishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01947000435270263070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29367161.post-25492402105817749582007-03-10T12:49:00.000-05:002007-03-10T12:49:00.000-05:00P.S. when standards are unrealistically high, ever...P.S. when standards are unrealistically high, everyone is marginal, which means decisions are made *very* subjectively.Professor Zerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909063513731044826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29367161.post-57113176376222324102007-03-10T11:55:00.000-05:002007-03-10T11:55:00.000-05:00Great analysis - The Profession should really take...Great analysis - The Profession should really take note. <BR/><BR/>On dead wood full professors, how useless are they really? And how many of them are there? And what can't they do one of those 'golden handshake' retirement programs, entice them to leave? Or if a use has not been found for them, is that not the institution's problem, poor personnel management? <BR/><BR/>Just because there are a few of these 'dead' professors around, *if* in fact they are dead, is no reason to further exploit the youth. That in fact is a sure fire way to exhaust them, so that they turn into 'dead' wood themselves ASAP.<BR/><BR/>On how faculty do not like to admit they are laborers: I never figured out why laborers could not be intellectuals. What they are trying to convince us of is that as 'professionals' we should not care about money - despite the fact that professionals are laborers and are not necessarily independently wealthy - so is it in fact that they are trying to get us to imagine we are aristocracy and do not need to be paid, and are doing all of this out of noblesse oblige?<BR/><BR/>I would love to undertake a study of the university as institution, the advent of the business model, etc., and then do a cross-cultural survey of the situation today. Cannot do it now. *Light bulb* maybe when I am emerita.Professor Zerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909063513731044826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29367161.post-55938386658865663722007-03-09T13:29:00.000-05:002007-03-09T13:29:00.000-05:00I agree. We do need a complete overhaul of the sy...I agree. We do need a complete overhaul of the system, setting up realistic expectations that can be met in a realistic (like 6 yrs) amount of time. But *until* that happens, anything that can be done (like stopping the tenure clock) to allow us to meet the current expectations is a great thing.<BR/><BR/>Again, I don't see working full time as a grad student as exploitation, but a good opportunity in a bad system. Teaching and tutoring, I got out of grad school without any student loans. I also acquired teaching experience that got me my first t-t job. Unless a system were created in which all grad students were given fellowships that covered 100% of their living expenses and tuition, I don't see much of an alternative. <BR/><BR/>Again, I don't disagree with you in theory. In practice, though, I've benefitted from everything you take issue with (teaching full time during grad school, stopping the tenure clock, taking longer than 6 yrs to tenure). I think a complete overhaul of the tenure system is a long way away, however much it might be needed. <BR/><BR/>Okay, I really need to grad those exams!gwinnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840990153103781272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29367161.post-30976804205147739952007-03-09T12:55:00.000-05:002007-03-09T12:55:00.000-05:00Hi gwinne. Thanks for your comment. The AAUP langu...Hi gwinne. Thanks for your comment. The AAUP language actually has an added footnote about stopping tenure clocks for situations such as childbirth. I'm all for it. But the fact that tenure clocks are in need of being stopped so that junior faculty can have lives outside of their jobs is iteself a symptom of the problem. I would rather fix the problem and make the job requirements compatible with our lives rather than adapt our lives to unreasonable job expectations. Plus, why should women's careers be held up and their wages docked just for having kids? The same goes for full-time teaching as a graduate student -- this is an exploitation that should be stopped rather than something we should adapt ourselves to. The idea behind enforcing that AAUP precept would be to ratchet back down the expectations. Right now folks get tenure by spending many more than 6 years doing it. The aim should be create standards that can actually be met within 6 years of probationary work rather than standards that actually take 10 or 12 years.LumpenProfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11424425909102486647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29367161.post-22886681320704626102007-03-09T12:40:00.000-05:002007-03-09T12:40:00.000-05:00I haven't read the original of the AAUP statement-...I haven't read the original of the AAUP statement--so I might be understanding--but I can't see this idea (7 yrs of total) helping anything if the expectations (of publishing, service, etc) don't also change. What about those of us who were "full time instructors" during *grad school*?<BR/><BR/>I also just read your other post on tenure requirements (I'm a newbie to your blog and really like it!) and want to say that I'm very very very happy that my former institution "stopped the tenure clock" after I gave birth. It wasn't mandatory, but it gave me an extra semester (or year) if I needed it. I agree that it's an institutional problem about the tenure process that creates such needs, but without a complete overhaul of the system (including lessening requirements) at most institutions, stopping the clock is a blessing.gwinnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840990153103781272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29367161.post-50069348574969510332007-03-09T11:54:00.000-05:002007-03-09T11:54:00.000-05:00LP,Well you know I want to shoot it, but let me ju...LP,<BR/><BR/>Well you know I want to shoot it, but let me just say that you have expanded the discussion beautifully -- and what you are saying about speed up and wage depression is EXACTLY right. <BR/><BR/>One part of the standards discourse at Zemith is pointing to th dead wood full professors and saying htat even though there is individual suffering, do we want more of "them"? In other words, in the end, the person being held back will benefit because the "process" will have more integrity. <BR/><BR/>Balderdash!<BR/><BR/>TRTenured Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.com