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USM Forum -- Message Board -> AAUP-USM MESSAGE BOARD -> "The role of a university is ...."
Post Info TOPIC: "The role of a university is ...."
stephen judd

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RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: "The role of a university is ...."
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quote:
Originally posted by: Invictus
" Well, "I can't think for ya," since I'm not part of the USM community in the strict sense (a fact for which I'm grateful every day). But I suspect you are having this discussion, Dr. Judd, because USM is still an academic community in spite of the administration's efforts to the contrary. The day this type of discussion ends is the day I'll completely give up on the university."

Hello Invictus . . . yes, USM still IS an academic community in spite . . . etc. My final note was semi-rhetorical in the sense that we find ourselves needing to remind each other so  often that this is true. We should talk about it a lot -- but we should not have to spend quite so much time reminding our own administration . . .


I'm a big fan -- we could make your posts into a very stylish monograph on the art of "artful" resistance . . .



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stephen judd

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quote:
Originally posted by: Get Real
"All should notice that 90% of the whinning comes from the LAB -The Lazy Arts Building!!!!!!  In order to be a tapayer you gotta work?"

One small section of the Arts reporting for admonishment. Get Real is invited to shadow me any day he/she likes . . . . make sure you bring your running shoes and eat well in the morning because it is a long time between meals . . . your view of those who teach in the humanities suffers from a radical case of stereotyping . . . .



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Music patron

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quote:
Originally posted by: stephen judd
"
One small section of the Arts reporting for admonishment. Get Real is invited to shadow me any day he/she likes . . . . make sure you bring your running shoes and eat well in the morning because it is a long time between meals . . . your view of those who teach in the humanities suffers from a radical case of stereotyping . . . . "


AMEN. I know this from long years of watching (most) of the faculty in the school of music. The days begin early and end late, and often faculty work all weekend.

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Runnin' ragged

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quote:
Originally posted by: Music patron
" AMEN. I know this from long years of watching (most) of the faculty in the school of music. The days begin early and end late, and often faculty work all weekend."
The dawn to dusk + weekends + evenings model applies to quite a few faculty members. I don't think even the IHL has the foggiest idea about what a faculty members job entails. Maybe they should spend a few days following a faculty member around. Tell them to bring their Dr. Scholls corn and blister protectors along.

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foot soldier

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RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: "The role of a university is .
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quote:
Originally posted by: Runnin' ragged
"The dawn to dusk + weekends + evenings model applies to quite a few faculty members. I don't think even the IHL has the foggiest idea about what a faculty members job entails. Maybe they should spend a few days following a faculty member around. Tell them to bring their Dr. Scholls corn and blister protectors along. "


Wasn't it Klumb (or someone in the H-A?) that said all Dr. Thames wants is "a day's work for a day's pay?" If USM faculty got paid for what they were working, they'd all be making as much as
Angie Dvorak!

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Runnin' ragged

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quote:
Originally posted by: foot soldier
" Wasn't it Klumb (or someone in the H-A?) that said all Dr. Thames wants is "a day's work for a day's pay?" If USM faculty got paid for what they were working, they'd all be making as much as Angie Dvorak!"
If all the university got out of its faculty was "a day's work for a day's pay" the university would be getting a heck of a lot less from the faculty than it is getting now. USM had better hope that its faculty doesn't decide to merely "work to contract." The university would be dead in its tracks.

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Jameela Lares

Date:
"The role of a university is ...."
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quote:
Originally posted by: stephen judd
" One small section of the Arts reporting for admonishment. Get Real is invited to shadow me any day he/she likes . . . . make sure you bring your running shoes and eat well in the morning because it is a long time between meals . . . your view of those who teach in the humanities suffers from a radical case of stereotyping . . . . "

Those outside of a profession usually have an extravagant--and false--perception of it.  Get Real may be thinking that all jobs are 40 hours per week (or--gasp!--50!) at something one really doesn't like but one knuckles down and does anyway.  But most of us in liberal arts work something like 80-100 hours per week, sometimes 120; I understand this is true of  professors in other disciplines as well.  I made more money per hour as a secretary, but I'm not in it for the money.  I'm in it because reading and writing and teaching and researching and confering with colleagues and advising students all day, everyday, is what I want to do; it's who I am.  In fact, being a professor is just about all I do.  Okay, I sing in a choir and I run errands and pet the cats, but even when I go on "vacation" it's to a conference or to a rare book library.  The term "liberal arts" has been redefined over the millenia, but the term originally meant those studies appropriate to free citizens of a republic--not wage slaves who couldn't conceive of a different type of labor.  It's possible to do something one loves ALL THE TIME.  What those on the outside don't realize is how odd a charge of laziness sounds.  It's entirely off-topic.  We're not thinking of 5 p.m. and gritting our teeth until then.  We're thinking about how to locate an elusive source that will prove or disprove a theory, or how to get a student to see how every sentence needs a finite verb, or how nice it would be to have a library budget this year, or any one of a myriad of things that occur to professionals while they are doing what they love.


Jameela



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The Shadow

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RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: "The role of a univers
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quote:
Originally posted by: Runnin' ragged
"If all the university got out of its faculty was "a day's work for a day's pay" the university would be getting a heck of a lot less from the faculty than it is getting now. USM had better hope that its faculty doesn't decide to merely "work to contract." The university would be dead in its tracks. "


It may already have started. Has anybody noticed how the faculty parking lots aren't as crowded this year as in previous years?

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Sweat Shop Sally

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RE: "The role of a university is ...."
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If I didn't know were were talking about a university here I'd think we were talking about one of those old  "sweat shops" where women worked long hours sewing piecemeal garments for outrageously low wages and had no meaningful representation to the factory owners. We had sweat shops in Mississippi many years ago. Maybe yet another is surfacing right here on Hardy Street. 

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stephen judd

Date:
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quote:
Originally posted by: Sweat Shop Sally
"If I didn't know were were talking about a university here I'd think we were talking about one of those old  "sweat shops" where women worked long hours sewing piecemeal garments for outrageously low wages and had no meaningful representation to the factory owners. We had sweat shops in Mississippi many years ago. Maybe yet another is surfacing right here on Hardy Street. "

It IS the same mentality. After all -- those managers who used to run the factories had to go somewhere right? Now they get college degrees and become white collar managers. Just because some of us wear ties or office clothing doesn't mean we aren't being subjected to coercive techniques to produce.


I know some of you don't like this idea but the difference between working for a unionized faculty and a nonunionized one is vast. Most of the faculty in the union were just as ambitious and hardworking as we are. They just weren't as oppressed. And guess what -- the union would be on this on-line thing like flies on you know what -- and not just because of the labor issue, but because of the very same issues we are concerned about: quality; integrity, and student education. I know because I was there when this issue hit my school up in New York in 1994.



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New Adjunct

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I've already posted a salary rant, but a school that asked a person with an advanced degree to teach two university classes for $500 a month (net) is already a sweat shop. At least it's a voluntary one, and I've un-volunteered.

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Invictus

Date:
RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: "The role of a univers
Permalink Closed

quote:
Originally posted by: Runnin' ragged
"If all the university got out of its faculty was "a day's work for a day's pay" the university would be getting a heck of a lot less from the faculty than it is getting now. USM had better hope that its faculty doesn't decide to merely "work to contract." The university would be dead in its tracks. "


There's a lot of good stuff in this thread, but I'd like to nominate this one for thet thar Citation de la Semaine award recognition.

Just my , of course, but the best teachers aren't "employees" or "white collar workers" or even "professional educators." They are missionaries. With apologies to Belushi & Ackroyd, my best profs were on a "mission from God." And missionaries don't work 9-5 hours & punch out when the mill whistle blows.

Sorry, Ol' Roy, but you need to stick to sawmills.

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Mr. W's Graveyard Shift

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quote:
Originally posted by: Invictus
"I'd like to nominate this one for thet thar Citation de la Semaine award recognition."
Duly noted.

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