UW Faculty Mass Exodus

Accuracy in Academia ^ | August 16, 2015 | Malcolm A. Kline

[JPG]

There are bigger concerns in life than tenure!

[arthurus]

Opening up room for improvement. Perhaps new replacement hires will be the sort who prefer to teach academic disciplines rather than expensive frivolity and Revolution.

[arthurus]

There is no merit in Leftists’ teaching.

[arthurus]

Not having to compete means they don’t have to teach anything useful.

[Quality_Not_Quantity]

The professors I know are extremely dedicated. They’re wrong about 90% of the things they know, but they’re all workaholics.

You may be right about that. I (for one) tend to make blanket assumptions about groups of people when, in reality, they're not necessarily true.

I'm still not a fan of tenure, though, as it seems like it adds a level of impunity to some people's attitudes and actions.

[DoodleDawg]

Not so sure: I saw some studies that tenured faculty taught more hours in the 1960’s than they do now, even at research universities.

It's possible. And I'm sure the research done then was a fraction of what is being done today.

[Academiadotorg]

I think you’re onto something. It’s reminiscent of the public employee unions that folded because they didn’t think they could get 51 percent of their members to vote for the union.

[riverdawg]

“The biggest drain are the adminstrators, whose number have grown far larger and faster than tenured faculty.
They would be happy to ditch the tenured profs for adjunct faculty serfs, with the savings going into raises for themselves and more administrators.”

You nailed it. Tenure is the bane of every university administrator's existence. If only they could get rid of those pesky faculty who dare to question the wisdom of every harebrained scheme they propose.

[drypowder]

Back in 1973 my American History professor, who was Chinese btw, really had vision for what was changing in the US. Probably because China had gone full communist in the late 40s but this professor would commonly pose the question to his class, regarding thuggish government tyranny, “at what point will YOU be ready to pick up a gun to defend your liberty and freedom?” Good thing he was tenured.

[KC_Conspirator]

Would you agree though that in recent years that liberals have fought to bestow tenure to conservatives? I know they have.

[rellimpank]

—maybe if the Trump program comes to fruition, the exiting “professors” will be able to find janitor-in-training jobs to fill—

[Buckeye McFrog]

I know a Wisconsin alum.

When I worked with him he took a class at our local community college.

He said the community college had better instructors and he learned more.

[TheRightGuy]

without tenure, I think my liberal colleagues would have purged me a long time ago. So tenure, in my instance (and that of many other conservative profs) has been a firewall to enable us to argue against the liberal system.

my son, a tenured prof at mizzou, echoes your thoughts. i just wish he would push the envelope a little further.

[Boogieman]

I’m sure there are plenty of unemployed who would take a non-guaranteed job over no job at all.

[Boogieman]

Hot dogs come in packages of 10, and buns come in packages of 8, so her roommate has to actually eat 3 hot dogs before it becomes an issue :)

[RinaseaofDs]

Would you disagree with the observation that you are not the mainstream case? There are VERY few conservatives in academic positions in the US any more.

Can you think of a SINGLE person in academia today that had the stature and political ideology of Jacques Barzun? Walter Williams, maybe?

[T-Bone Texan]

I own one of your books. It has merit.

After reading your comment about publishing at least once a year I vote for LS for president something, anything, that is in a position of authoritah over tenured leftists.

[pierrem15]

And I'm sure the research done then was a fraction of what is being done today.

Just wondering-- were you serious? I would wager just as much, but fewer publications of higher quality.

[DoodleDawg]

Just wondering-- were you serious? I would wager just as much, but fewer publications of higher quality.

Yes I am. UW-Madison is one of the top ten or fifteen research universities in the country. They attract hundreds of millions of dollars in reasearch grants from government and industry. There was nothing comparable 50 years ago. And that, in turn, attracts faculty and grad students who want to do that research. Reduce the amount of time they are allowed to do it and they'll go elsewhere. And take that grant money with them.

[1010RD]

He obviously cannot think well. When he comes to clear your table next week, you can explain it to him.