Prof. Hyde: The University of Corn? What do they know about this issue?
Dr. Jekyll: Well, it seems their Faculty Senate President-Elect told them not to work quite as much.
Prof. Hyde: Ah, well, that does solve it! I should be more respectful of Iowa State University. Perhaps for their next trick they will invent a time machine.
Can you have a recall election for a Faculty Senate President?
ReplyDeleteThis guy would also call the Grand Canyon a big hole in the ground.
ReplyDelete"Wallace said if faculty can manage to accomplish their professional goals and tasks during work time, they will be happier and be able to work more efficiently, which will benefit the university in the long run."
ReplyDeleteI say, if Wallace can manage to shit pizza, he will be smarter and able to dine more spontaneously.
If the university can manage to hire a few more full-timers to distribute the service load, all faculty will be happier and be able to work more efficiently, which will benefit the university in the long run.
Unfortunately, these three scenarios have about equal probability of becoming reality.
Yup.
DeleteA few years ago, our (then-new) Chancellor won lots of friends by telling us "You've been trying for years to do more with less--now it's time for you to do less with less." Without really saying what that meant. Because we are the type of institution where if everyone did just work 40 hours a week (and did their teaching, minimum service, and PD obligations), the wheels would fucking fall off. At the time, we'd just come off two years of forced furloughs (spread out so that everyone bore the pain--including the tenured faculty)--the first year of which I worked on furlough days anyway (the TT being what it is). The second year I stayed home and didn't do anything on furlough days--and the work still got done, even if the piles were higher and deeper than they would have been otherwise.
I have had other colleagues (older, and male) tell me I should "work down" to my pay grade (which, 4 years post tenure is still under $50k a year). And I have said no more often since getting tenure, but still...if we all did less, the Republicans win (because the quality will suffer, thereby justifying their cuts).
I don't know. I got into teaching at precisely the wrong end of the pendulum swing.
If the university can manage to hire a few more full-timers to distribute the service load, all faculty will be happier and be able to work more efficiently, which will benefit the university in the long run.
DeleteAmen to this (and also to the extreme unlikelihood of it actually happening, despite it being an obvious, and extremely sensible, and probably not even all that expensive (at least compared to some other things universities consider essential these days) solution.
And also to BurntChrome's thoughts about timing. At least for those of us with heavy full-time loads made up of primarily intro/core courses, I'm not sure tenure makes all that much of a difference: either we're badly underpaid and drowning in service tasks, or we're badly underpaid and have too little voice in the larger structures within which our work takes place because we don't do service. I don't know which is worse; from my (no-service) side of the fence, the grass looks greener over yonder, but I can easily see why the reverse would also be true.