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USM Forum -- Message Board -> AAUP-USM MESSAGE BOARD -> F.S. UNAPPROVED March minutes
Post Info TOPIC: F.S. UNAPPROVED March minutes
stephen judd

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RE: F.S. UNAPPROVED March minutes
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watching wrote:

Does the second part of your post contradict the first part?  From markets to egalitarianism in one essay?

No one says collective action can't be used to affect the market.


But in this case . . . . the issue isn't one of philosophy so much as it is an assertion of what I consider to be just under the circumstances. The administration has already prasied the faculty AS A WHOLE about its participation in righting the ship for SACs. I know that some faculty have been very active, other have been somewhat active. But most faculty have been affected by all of this -- many people have shouldered extra loads to help their colleagues involved in SACs do the work. I could go on.


I disagree completely with the idea that the only raise should be a merit raise when we go so many years with almost no opportunity for merit raises or any raise at all. If I have three excellently performing years but no raises are given, then I have a slightly off year and riases are given, is that right? That is exactly what happened last year -- we chairs and directors were ordered NOT to consider anything done by faculty in previous years even though there have been many years of almost no raises. So people who happened to be lucky enough to be publishing that year, or having an exhibition, or having great student evals, rose to the top whatever they had been doing in previous years, while those who were not performing at "star" level were ignored.


It's a bad system. All I am proposing is the raises be used to make up lost ground for everyone, and they be used to acknowlege that everyone has contributed in some way simply in surviving these last four years.



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A. Smith

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At USM, the low-paid profs are teaching in Ph.D. programs, increasing the number of Ph.D.s in that already low-salary discipline, while high-salary profs generally do not teach in Ph.D. programs, which helps keep the number of Ph.D.s in those areas low and salaries high.

One could say that the low-salary disciplines are shooting themselves in the foot by turning out graduates who only help depress salaries.

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dft

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Stephen, USM is not the market.  You use the word "just" in your post.  I don't really think you have come to terms with markets in academia.   

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stephen judd

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dft wrote:

Stephen, USM is not the market.  You use the word "just" in your post.  I don't really think you have come to terms with markets in academia.   

 


Perhaps. On the other hand just because I have come to terms with the market doesn't mean I have to accept that the "market" can't be used by people who have power for unjust ends. Is it unjust that Professor X in business makes more money than me? I don't think the question even makes any sense.


On the other hand, is it unjust that the President of the university can take a 5% raise which could, in light of the recent history of all faculty falling behind a constantly rising cost of living and split it up to use as a tool of exerting personal power -- absolutely. This administration is incapable of making fair decisions about wage distribution. So let's distribute equally in this instance.  



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back to the market

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stephen judd wrote:




 Perhaps. On the other hand just because I have come to terms with the market doesn't mean I have to accept that the "market" can't be used by people who have power for unjust ends.


You have NOT come to terms with the market.  Except for the two sentences in your posts where you say you have, everything you write suggests the opposite.  "Unjust" is not market terminology, there you go again (below), coming to terms with the market.


Is it unjust that Professor X in business makes more money than me? I don't think the question even makes any sense. On the other hand, is it unjust that the President of the university can take a 5% raise which could, in light of the recent history of all faculty falling behind a constantly rising cost of living and split it up to use as a tool of exerting personal power -- absolutely.


"Unjust" again (above), and still not a market term.


This administration is incapable of making fair decisions about wage distribution. So let's distribute equally in this instance.


"fair" --- again a non-market term.  You end with the egalitarian sentiment again.  Where is the "coming to terms. . . " part?  



USM's salary decision can be used by people for their own ends.  I don't think that Shelby controls or impacts Theatre and Dance salaries nationwide, though.  I could be wrong (<sarcasm>).

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One Man Band

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brown bag wrote:

I would assume that a chair's job is a chair's job
I used to make that same assumption. But we now have assistant chairs, associate chairs,  administrative assistants, administrative secretaries, and heaven knows what else, all in the same department doing the work previouly done by the chair.

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stephen judd

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back to the market wrote:

stephen judd wrote:  Perhaps. On the other hand just because I have come to terms with the market doesn't mean I have to accept that the "market" can't be used by people who have power for unjust ends. You have NOT come to terms with the market.  Except for the two sentences in your posts where you say you have, everything you write suggests the opposite.  "Unjust" is not market terminology, there you go again (below), coming to terms with the market. Is it unjust that Professor X in business makes more money than me? I don't think the question even makes any sense. On the other hand, is it unjust that the President of the university can take a 5% raise which could, in light of the recent history of all faculty falling behind a constantly rising cost of living and split it up to use as a tool of exerting personal power -- absolutely. "Unjust" again (above), and still not a market term. This administration is incapable of making fair decisions about wage distribution. So let's distribute equally in this instance. "fair" --- again a non-market term.  You end with the egalitarian sentiment again.  Where is the "coming to terms. . . " part?   USM's salary decision can be used by people for their own ends.  I don't think that Shelby controls or impacts Theatre and Dance salaries nationwide, though.  I could be wrong (<sarcasm>).

I suppose we'll just have to disagree here. You treat the market as though it were a force of nature. It isn't. People (both a individuals and as members of groups) can exert influence on the market, unlike Canute trying vainly to call the tide in. And in doing so, they can use the market (or perhaps more accurately, play on people's dependence on market forces) to achieve "unjust" ends.


You are right, the market is the market. We agree on that. And what I have said is still true -- generally speaking, I'm content to let market forces set the differential between a professor of theatre and a professor of business (or what have you). That is the local market and it adjusts itself to its own needs. On the other hand, if a President, say, doesn't like my political point of view and has acts to prevent my salary from rising in a way the market would indicate, then I'd say he is interfering in the market and acting "unfairly", "unjustly", what have you. I don't think these ideas are mutally exclusive, nor is the notion of justice within the market contradictory.


As I said, we may simply disagree here. I'm not an economist or a professor of business. I do think there are good reasons business people are increasingly taking not just law classes (what is legal) but ethics classes (what is right). The concept of rightness embodies many principles, among them justice and fairness. If that is good enough for schools of business to admit as a concern of people who work the market, then it is good enough for me.


But I'll admit to being naive. Undoubtedly why I'm an artist.



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