Posted on 08/17/2015 9:50:34 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
He may not be getting as much attention as The Donald but Governor Scott Walkers higher education reforms in Wisconsin are having a real world impact there. Who wants to work in a state where tenure is an abstraction?, Kelly Wilz, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Marshfield/Wood County, writes in a column which appeared on the Academe Blog maintained by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).
Apparently, not many of her colleagues, even the tenured ones. The emails keep rolling in, Wilz writes. More colleagues leavingnot for better pay, not because they didnt love their jobs, but because of uncertainty.
Governor Walker urged state university administrators to take a fresh look at tenure in making administrative decisions. Interestingly, from neighboring Illinois, two law professors from Northwestern offered a surprisingly different perspective on tenure in a column which appeared in The Wall Street Journal.
All the pressures facing American higher education make this a good time to reconsider its unusual employment structure, John O. McGinnis and Max Schanzenbach wrote. False claims about academic freedom are not going to protect higher education from the realities of technological change, an aging professoriate, and an increasingly demanding and indebted student body.
Mr. Walker is doing the educational establishment a favor by suggesting gradual reforms before a crisis necessitates more radical ones.
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.
There is no merit in Leftists’ teaching.
Not having to compete means they don’t have to teach anything useful.
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.
It's possible. And I'm sure the research done then was a fraction of what is being done today.
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.
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.
Would you agree though that in recent years that liberals have fought to bestow tenure to conservatives? I know they have.
—maybe if the Trump program comes to fruition, the exiting “professors” will be able to find janitor-in-training jobs to fill—
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.
my son, a tenured prof at mizzou, echoes your thoughts. i just wish he would push the envelope a little further.
I’m sure there are plenty of unemployed who would take a non-guaranteed job over no job at all.
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 :)
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?
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.
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.
He obviously cannot think well. When he comes to clear your table next week, you can explain it to him.
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