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Realized something today, speaking with @kiradault.
I have spent 30 years now, in and around universities. I have been a student, a staff member, a faculty member, and an administrator.
Over the last 3 decades, I have watched universities systematically devalue teaching 1/
I have spent 30 years now, in and around universities. I have been a student, a staff member, a faculty member, and an administrator.
Over the last 3 decades, I have watched universities systematically devalue teaching 1/
Administrations have operated with the rhetoric that “students assume the teaching is equal everywhere” & so pushed their admin expertise & facility perks as the value that students were paying $$ for.
New athletic center! Landscaping!
Any focus but the value of teaching 2/
New athletic center! Landscaping!
Any focus but the value of teaching 2/
This was parallel to a dismantling of shared governance, and the replacement of full time faculty with adjuncts, and the utter failure of TT faculty to understand the necessity of solidarity with contingent faculty.
Like, a LOT of waves have been eroding the shore 3/
Like, a LOT of waves have been eroding the shore 3/
But suddenly, we are at a point where all the extra tangibles have been stripped away.
Going to the athletic center or a student center or a ball game now might get you infected and killed, so they are not available as perks.
Well trained, the students want their $$ back
4/
Going to the athletic center or a student center or a ball game now might get you infected and killed, so they are not available as perks.
Well trained, the students want their $$ back
4/
Schools are left having to justify fees based on the one deliverable they have systematically devalued for 30 years.
It turns out that education is not “inerchangeable content” that just magically exists to be delivered.
It must be shaped and curated.
5/
It turns out that education is not “inerchangeable content” that just magically exists to be delivered.
It must be shaped and curated.
5/
But - aha! - schools have no mechanism to communicate that amazing and immutable fact, because that it the one as
ect of their whizbang marketing plans they have been hiding under a bushel all these years.
What does “pay us because we have amazing teachers” even mean now? 6/
ect of their whizbang marketing plans they have been hiding under a bushel all these years.
What does “pay us because we have amazing teachers” even mean now? 6/
Well, if administrators had spent 3+ decades articulating and selling to students the irreplacable value of quality faculty, & had invested consistently in the quality of faculty, this moment would be a lot easier.
But they didn’t.
7/
But they didn’t.
7/
So, for a lot of schools ( see the last few days w/ @Columbia, @Cornell, etc) the *only* answer is to try to get students physically back on campus, for the “experience”
That means they ar insisting faculty must endanger themselves by physically returning to campus
8/
That means they ar insisting faculty must endanger themselves by physically returning to campus
8/
But again, this is not in the context of “faculty create something irreplacable for students,” but rather, “you faculty are the most visible props of the student experience - do your duty!”
Reading the letters to faculty, this is basically the rhetoric employed.
9/
Reading the letters to faculty, this is basically the rhetoric employed.
9/
It would be great is faculty were actually valued. We are not.
So in that reality, it is abundantly clear that faculty have to be organized, and unified.
I’m not saying anything new. It’s just more starkly life and death at the moment.
10/
So in that reality, it is abundantly clear that faculty have to be organized, and unified.
I’m not saying anything new. It’s just more starkly life and death at the moment.
10/
My only joy is watching administrations scramble in the realization that maybe, just maybe, their systematic undercutting of the value of their faculties was not the great business strategy they thought it was.
11/11
11/11
