Posted on 05/20/2021 9:47:24 PM PDT by DeweyCA
Professor David Decosimo is part of the theology department at Boston University. His online bio says the studies “theology, ethics, religion and politics, and philosophy and theory of religion.” Monday, Decosimo announced that it had been two years since he was granted tenure after what he described as 15 years of “exhausting” labor. He promised that to mark the occasion he would be offering some thoughts about what he learned.
Two years ago this week I learned I had earned tenure. It was the culmination of an exhausting, incredibly demanding journey of over 15 years. I never would have finished it without the love & support of my family, friends, & teachers, for & to whom I'm incredibly grateful. 1/2
At the time, precisely because I was not yet tenured, I was not on social media at all. It seemed far too risky. In honor of the occasion, I'm going to offer a few thoughts this week on the journey & what I've learned & seen along the way. 2/2
Jump forward to today and Prof. Decosimo has posted a thread about the ways in which progressive ideologues within academia play Calvinball with the careers of any non-conformist scholars who seek entry into their universities, either as graduate students or faculty. The jumping off point for this discussion was the decision about tenure for Nikole Hannah Jones at the University of North Carolina. Decosimo argues this sort of thing happens all the time, nearly always harming those deemed insufficiently progressive.
Now that so many people seem to care about viewpoint discrimination in academia, let's talk about it. It's common, unethical, intellectually dishonest, & betrays the whole purpose of a university. And it almost always runs one way: against those seen as not 'progressive.' 🧵1/
Yes, it can go the other way, as NHJ's case may suggest.
But that's far less common & usually involves forces *external* to academia (trustees, politicians). Faculty & elites will *strongly* protest, rally in defense, write think-pieces, & make the victim a cause célèbre. 2/
But these days, the most effective enforcers of viewpoint discrimination are militantly 'progressive' and *internal* to academia: the faculty.
I don’t think this would surprise anyone. In fact, I doubt anyone would even argue that most academics cover an ideological range from left to hard left. But according to Decosimo that often results in the most outspoken ideologues working to block the advancement of those who might dare to disagree.
All it takes is 1 or 2 ideologically corrupt faculty to: - Deny doctoral admission - Blackball a job candidate - Derail a tenure case. It happens all the time. 4/
The winnowing begins at PhD admissions. It's easiest to defeat the 'enemy' by not even letting them in the room. They'll try to block admission of an excellent but non-conformist candidate. Failing that, they'll try to block progress & badmouth her in the field. 5/
Hiring comes next. First, it is essential that the job description keep the ideological nonconformist from even having a shot. 6/
This is easy to do Working with admin, they keep open-minded faculty off the search committee. And if someone proposes the 'wrong' language or focus, they publicly attack or privately say: "Those sort of people don't belong here. By the way, when is your tenure decision?" 7/
Blocking new hires isn’t hard in a competitive environment and denying tenure is even easier.
If a heterodox finalist somehow emerges, the corrupt will tank the visit. They'll ask politically loaded questions, say they felt unsafe, or talk about 'culture' or 'fit.' In a case I know of, the candidate was repeatedly asked to renounce Catholic teaching on sexuality. 8/
Denying tenure is the easiest. If the non-conformist gets the job, that's the move. If her scholarship is anything less than clearly the strongest in memory, that's enough. Still, they'll put fellow ideologues on the tenure referee list to game it. Even one 'no' will do. 9/
Critical theorists can come up with 12 ways to call someone a racist or sexist without breaking a sweat. By applying these tools to nonconformists, they make sure those people’s careers are not allowed to advance.
But the person will have to have been a truly exceptional scholar to have gotten the job despite their efforts. The vector of attack will be teaching & 'fit.' They'll build a false narrative around 'harm,' 'insensitivity,' 'intercultural competence,' 'inclusivity', etc. 10/
Students will have felt 'unsafe & unwelcome.' She was 'defensive' when confronted in class for 'centering whiteness' by lecturing on John Brown. She didn't deploy 'trauma-informed pedagogy' in the Lolita seminar. Discussing closed borders created a 'non-inclusive classroom.' 11/
And unlike Nikole Hannah Jones, none of these people whose careers are being tarnished will be written about by the NY Times.
She will be denied tenure, her career & livelihood destroyed. It happens all the time. And here's the deal. Will faculty rally around her? Will elites & NYT take up her cause? Will her name be a hashtag? Her story be known? 12/
She'll need to spend well over $30,000 & years in court. Even then, she'll likely lose. No one will know or care. So, take viewpoint discrimination seriously. But be real about how & to whom it usually happens. They're rarely famous, powerful, & still employed at NYT. /fin
I wish Prof. Decosimo had said more about the results but then I guess we can all see the results when we look at almost any college or university. They all seem to be run as progressive one-party states with the possible exception of some in the business departments. Those without tenure would have to be either very crazy or very brave to challenge the woke orthodoxy. As we’ve seen recently, even private high schools are doing their best to punish dissent, leaving both students and parents who pay exorbitant tuition afraid to speak for fear of being canceled.
” Universities “ really are a wonderful Ponzi scheme, aren’t they ?
Tenure? What’s that?
Doesn’t exist in US universities anymore.
Term-appointed adjuncts are popular. Only get paid for what you teach with no benefits. 6 hours a week teaching at $50 plus 2 hour of prep/grading time at $25 per week puts you at near minimum wage. Can’t live in the Bay Area with that income. Need 4 classes/ gigs a term to make enough to pay rent, and since it’s term to term, due to scheduling conflicts and non-competes, you are lucky to get 2.
That’s why I went overseas. Since a visa is required, it means full-time salary plus benefits.
The professor’s tweets (above) are italicized. It is important to occasionally have somebody on the inside tell exactly what is going on in academia, and how the game is rigged against conservatives. You may want to consider going to the original article and forward it on to the college students that you know.
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My college in the Bay Area just forced everyone to watch the most disgusting 3rd party woke video/class on harassment and discrimination. Featured 2 guys kissing at a bar, a tranny, a Muslim and pro-BLM nonsense. Bet a mandatory one on CRT is coming soon.
Only a surreptitious recording and the aid of the former chairman of the department (who was dying of cancer) pried the degree out from his block.
That was several decades ago. The principles (other than me) are all dead. The former "advisor" was a foreign import who was notorious for abusing his grad students.
What we need is for those in government who pay the bills for public universities to add viewpoint as one of the required categories of “diversity” which is then strictly required in hiring at universities. After all, aren’t universities supposed to be marketplaces of ideas? How can students come out well rounded when the only people allowed to teach them are Leftists?
Oh sure Academia will have a giant conniption if forced to have ideological balance among the faculty. It effectively means Leftists need not apply for employment for a generation at least. The key is to ignore their cries and simply ram it down their throats.
Tenure should be abolished. Faculty should move around and they should be subjected to the same market forces all the rest of us (other than government workers) are.
What we need is for those in government who pay the bills for public universities to add viewpoint as one of the required categories of “diversity” which is then strictly required in hiring at universities.
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Dunno. Was looking for a teaching position locally in Colorado. Both the CSU and CU systems are chock-full of Indian and Communist Chinese H1Bs. Diversity they say.
But as the EEOC has said, it a company is 100% minority, it’s legal. It’s only illegal if it’s majority White.,
Tenure should be abolished. Faculty should move around and they should be subjected to the same market forces all the rest of us (other than government workers) are.
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So if you teach, no benefits? no health insurance? No 401Ks?, no PTO?
In college teaching, if you are not tenure-track, you are a part-time adjunct in most cases.
Let them have the same benefits others get in terms of vacation, health insurance, etc....or not and simply get more money and let them make their own arrangements for benefits which is what I do as a contractor.
Tenure is not the same thing as benefits. Tenure is protection from being fired. None of us have that. We are all at will and can be canned for lousy performance, downturns in the economy etc. Why should college profs be immune?
Yeah, that needs to be changed. We need a faculty that reflects the community standard - that means it should not be exclusively or even overwhelmingly Leftists.
Which countries offer the best compensation package?
Which degrees are most in demand?
Do they want you to teach in English, or in the native language?
Thanks - just curious - first time I have heard about American PHDs having to expat to make a living.
American PhD’s have gone to Hong Kong, Singapore, and the middle east for many years. Those can be great places to get better treatment and pay. US universities are difficult at best and hostile in many cases. Can’t say regarding the European universities. South American and African universities are basically local in nature.
I used to work at a university. It’s all true and worse. Even with the hiring of staff and other employees.
I personally heard a faculty member recommend dismissing an application (before it was even reviewed) from a former military applicant, BECAUSE he was former military...”We can’t have THAT”
Let them have the same benefits others get in terms of vacation, health insurance, etc....or not and simply get more money and let them make their own arrangements for benefits which is what I do as a contractor.
Tenure is not the same thing as benefits. Tenure is protection from being fired. None of us have that. We are all at will and can be canned for lousy performance, downturns in the economy etc. Why should college profs be immune?
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You don’t get higher education hiring, I guess. No faculty is hired full time unless they are foreigners (for visa purposes), have a terminal degree (usually a PhD), and years of experience at that school.
Tenure in the US = professorship and full-time
Everyone else is part-time adjunct faculty (basically hourly employees without benefits). And they warn adjuncts - don’t claim over 24 hours a week.
Which countries offer the best compensation package?
Which degrees are most in demand?
Do they want you to teach in English, or in the native language?
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Surprisingly, the EU and the UK. Mainly due to benefits and vacations
School I start at in June is 34 weeks a year full-time, unless I want to pick up a graduate level course for extra pay.
Singapore pays well if you a PR
Hong Kong used to be but now everything must go through China and Mandarin is increasing popping up on qualifications lists.
Don’t know about what degrees are in demand only I only concern myself with who’s hiring for my highly specialized degree.
Of course teach in English
Change the model. Get rid of tenure entirely. Make ‘em all contractors.
Change the model. Get rid of tenure entirely. Make ‘em all contractors.
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That will cut pay to maybe $300 to $400 a week for most faculty. $100/hr per typical 3-hour lesson. And most schools pay half that for adjuncts. Poverty wages.
But I guess that’s something most businesses can agree on. Extremely low pay for just about everything except themselves.
Contractors need not be badly paid. I’m not. I just don’t think anybody should have a guaranteed job no matter what.
Contractors need not be badly paid. I’m not. I just don’t think anybody should have a guaranteed job no matter what.
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Not relevant unless you are specifically talking about teaching and education.
It’s not the hourly rate, it’s the lack of hours.
Most teaching weeks are MW for either 3 hours each (8 week terms) or 1.5 hours each for 16 week terms.
And since universities tend to all at the same time, the most you can get is 2 classes.
And they all mostly have non-compete clauses.
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