Sunday, September 15, 2013

Corey Robin — University of Oregon to Faculty: You Belong to Me!



Admin versus faculty. Admin winning.

University of Oregon to Faculty: You Belong to Me!
Corey Robin

1 comment:

Ryan Harris said...

The denial of change and wistful thinking about the University as an institution remaining in the current form seems to be a reaction to an obvious irreversible shift underway. The academics made a valiant effort to hold on to the ancient university format but students have alternatives now... on reducing costs and a better quality education.
The vast majority of academics need to get ready for outsourcing and modern communication networks and start looking at their employment alternatives as the next couple decades will not be easy. Their future looks like a garment worker, a auto worker, or a reporter in decades past.
The world has changed. It isn't going backwards. It is only going to get more difficult as universities are forced to increase productivity and reduce their consumption of real resources. It isn't all bad though as these are real savings and those savings pass directly to consumers. Professors, especially at the upper graduate levels and researchers that were being subsidized by undergraduate courses and government are most vulnerable even though in the past they were most heavily protected by tenure and tradition. They aren't viable on their own without heavy support which will evaporate. For the intransigent who aren't willing to change with the times, there is always retail, hospitality, healthcare and engineering careers in private industry in abundance for the highly educated. But if they think the loss of privacy is bad here, the lack of stability, the falling wages, just wait until they get into the brilliant private economy that academics and government designed for us all!