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In defense of tenure: its function is to allow faculty to speak their mind. I believe in tenure. If you want to know what would happen without tenure, look at p

In defense of tenure: its function is to allow faculty to speak their mind. I believe in tenure. If you want to know what would happen without tenure, look at places such as Pakistan (technically a democracy, but basically nobody speaks their mind, including Supreme Court Justices).

AtlasBarfed 5y ago
I too am not necessarily opposed to tenure, I was more remarking since the vampire management MBA class has inculcated themselves into "higher education" administration, they've gradually hollowed out the professorship class with adjuncts and the like. Humanities aren't generally "revenue" departments in terms of grants, so I'd assume they'd go after those with the usual union busting techniques (since tenure is kind of a distributed union). One trick corps did for unions was to have the established union workers "sell out" the incoming workers. So the old guard gets to keep sweet benefits, pay, seniority, while new hires did not. The people in charge of the unions and the existing base would drop that negotiation, but the management knew that attrition and age would phase out the union. I'm pretty sure institutions are doing this by increasing adjunct percentages and the like. Meanwhile, the professors with tenure turn a blind eye and as long as they keep their position, who cares about anyone else. Of course most of these people were... baby boomers.
- reactspa 5y ago
  > One trick corps did for unions was to have the established union workers "sell out" the incoming workers. So the old guard gets to keep sweet benefits, pay, seniority, while new hires did not. The people in charge of the unions and the existing base would drop that negotiation, but the management knew that attrition and age would phase out the union. I've wondered about such trends, and wondered why I as a new employee didn't get the same healthcare and retirement benefits that older "grandfathered-in" employees got. Thank you for clarifying. Finally, I understand.

AtlasBarfed 5y ago

I too am not necessarily opposed to tenure, I was more remarking since the vampire management MBA class has inculcated themselves into "higher education" administration, they've gradually hollowed out the professorship class with adjuncts and the like. Humanities aren't generally "revenue" departments in terms of grants, so I'd assume they'd go after those with the usual union busting techniques (since tenure is kind of a distributed union). One trick corps did for unions was to have the established union workers "sell out" the incoming workers. So the old guard gets to keep sweet benefits, pay, seniority, while new hires did not. The people in charge of the unions and the existing base would drop that negotiation, but the management knew that attrition and age would phase out the union. I'm pretty sure institutions are doing this by increasing adjunct percentages and the like. Meanwhile, the professors with tenure turn a blind eye and as long as they keep their position, who cares about anyone else. Of course most of these people were... baby boomers.

reactspa 5y ago
> One trick corps did for unions was to have the established union workers "sell out" the incoming workers. So the old guard gets to keep sweet benefits, pay, seniority, while new hires did not. The people in charge of the unions and the existing base would drop that negotiation, but the management knew that attrition and age would phase out the union. I've wondered about such trends, and wondered why I as a new employee didn't get the same healthcare and retirement benefits that older "grandfathered-in" employees got. Thank you for clarifying. Finally, I understand.