tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post5532714695133006130..comments2024-03-09T03:20:20.004-05:00Comments on Tenured Radical: "Sincerely Yours, The Department Of Miserable Bastards"Tenured Radicalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05703980598547163290noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-32234173675258959002010-08-13T19:20:38.071-05:002010-08-13T19:20:38.071-05:00google $3,000,000 UCB Birgeneau, Breslauer to find...google $3,000,000 UCB Birgeneau, Breslauer to find sincerely your self-serving expenditures for Cal senior managementAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-45978451976746932722010-03-27T10:45:36.996-05:002010-03-27T10:45:36.996-05:00Much as I like this post, it's perhaps a bit t...Much as I like this post, it's perhaps a bit too easy to speak of "the selfish and unrealistic people of California" as though they were any different than the other state voters around the country. In no state do we still have a citizenry who have much of any idea of how to mobilize for change unless it is taking away LGBT rights or rolling back taxes. It seems to me that there is at least one useful point in Scull's otherwise stupid and appalling letter, which (to put a generous spin on his thoughts) is that the former high reputation of certain UCs might at least be a rallying point for a renewed popular commitment to public education. I teach in the Univ of Massachusetts system, where there has never been any pride in the institution to begin with, and in which public support for the university has never existed. Sadly, this is the case in almost every Eastern state, much as some commenters would like to paint this as a peculiarly "Western" approach. The commitment to public education in this state is far weaker than anything in California, where at least the voters might be mobilized around the thought that they once had a glorious system. The commenter who pointed out that the California public no longer supports prison construction is right: the political will is there, but some real thinking has to be done about how to channel it appropriately, rather than just whining about how "the West" fails to understand this or that.Lennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-71451133964285093772009-09-10T13:56:51.741-05:002009-09-10T13:56:51.741-05:00I'm a little late coming to your blog, but tha...I'm a little late coming to your blog, but thanks for this (and all of your posts). I'm a PhD student in Literature at Santa Cruz (one of Scull's points of non-productivity), and the grads here are gearing up for a lot of "activities" in response to sentiments like Scull's and the actions of Yudof, et. al. Just to clarify (or correct) uc ta's comments on staff bloat, the bloat and wastage in the UC system is overwhelmingly at the administrative and managerial levels, which have grown at five times the rate of staff positions. According to a study by Charles Schwartz (Professor Emeritus at Berkeley), this administrative bloat accounts for $600 million in misused, unneeded expenditures. Check out his study here: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~schwrtz/Part_14.html<br />And more on the budget here: <br />http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~schwrtzAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17609051982525459062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-90726095905216948042009-07-25T15:56:30.488-05:002009-07-25T15:56:30.488-05:00I found your blog accidentally but am in agreement...I found your blog accidentally but am in agreement re: the UO. My husband and I chose to move to Eugene a few years ago, for lifestyle reasons, and in doing so we knew we would make career and salary sacrifices. In addition to my husband taking a big pay cut from a private school to come here, it has taken us two years to find a home we can even afford, and we are struggling to make it on one salary with limited employment opportunities for me. It sickens me that paycuts and raise freezes for faculty are even on the table...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-64248161172775847842009-07-24T19:09:15.001-05:002009-07-24T19:09:15.001-05:00KG,
Unfortunately, there's plenty of shame t...KG, <br /><br />Unfortunately, there's plenty of shame to go around, including (before Scull's letter) at UCLA, where many similar "solutions" (e.g., save the "best," screw the rest) were proposed in a letter from the Sociology Dept. See:<br /><br />http://toodumbtolivearchive.blogspot.com/2009/07/ucla-sociology-department-statement-on.htmlKarl Bryantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-27014356329286567252009-07-23T12:06:35.360-05:002009-07-23T12:06:35.360-05:00The people who signed the letter are so screwed. T...The people who signed the letter are so screwed. Their names are mud now. I love it. --Chris C (UC Santa Cruz B.A.; UC San Diego Ph.D.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-63264226639930314622009-07-22T18:06:40.250-05:002009-07-22T18:06:40.250-05:00The citizens of those states DO NOT CARE about hig...The citizens of those states DO NOT CARE about higher education and do not want to fund it. It's that simple.<br /><br />Nothing is ever that simple. My point in mentioning oregon in a thread about California was to say that this is a trend across the West Coast that raises concerns about how we ALL are handling economic crisis not to single them out. And also to raise alarm about how not only admin and faculty are being sacrificed but also in-state students who state funded unis are supposed to serve. <br /><br />I admit that I think it is awfully Machiavellian to state:<br /><br /><br />If states (and its citizens) don't make education a priority through their voting choices, then unis have the right to do whatever they have to to survive. <br /><br />For me, and those with whom I have the privilege to work, state university's are funded to serve state students first and foremost. When we lose site of that mandate, we encourage tax payers to lose site of us. The issue is complex and all of the solutions have costs, but ones that put undue burden on the ppl at the bottom (admin in the picket line, adjuncts in the welfare line, or students) in order to privilege the top that seems like a fairly obvious problem. And I'd like to look toward solutions rather than justify questionable policy in any state.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-14522073785531118482009-07-22T11:25:53.631-05:002009-07-22T11:25:53.631-05:00PS - I didn't mean to imply that people at low...PS - I didn't mean to imply that people at lower than top 10 would necessarily not get an R1 job, some shifting would happen over time, but just talking in terms of numbers. I had an argument with a friend at about a rank-30 school in her field, and she kept arguing for the value of a balanced life and "I still have something to contribute", and she just couldn't hear my point that wanting to do research and getting the grant money to do it were not the same thing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-1916777500052700522009-07-22T11:14:08.559-05:002009-07-22T11:14:08.559-05:00I think it's really useless to separate the cu...I think it's really useless to separate the current economic crisis (where the pay cuts and lay offs you're describing are mild compared to a lot of corporate America) from the long-term issues of academia. The system has been on the verge of imploding for years. When I entered a top-5 R1 grad program in 1990, I was struck by how the system was much like a Ponzi scheme, with the numbers of graduate students that are admitted and churned out. The top-10 R1's produced enough PhDs to populate the entire R1 tenure faculty, meaning that everyone at a lower-than-top-10 university would be landing full-time teaching jobs. And yet no one was being trained to teach, they were being trained to do research.<br /><br />The point is that this worked, the same way Ponzi schemes worked, in the beginning. Post WW2 expansion of the university system created a need for all of those researchers. But at some point, the expansion was over and yet the Ponzi scheme rattled on. Small market corrections happened, but often the gap between PhD and tenure (or lack thereof) was long enough for people to lose sight of where the blame lies: with the universities with overly large admission policies.<br /><br />The research boat is sinking, and Scull thinks he can prevent it by taking pot shots at the people who do the actual work of teaching. It's hard to imagine this is a sociologist.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-76705818477659793442009-07-21T19:40:14.362-05:002009-07-21T19:40:14.362-05:00Total state and local tax burden in California is ...Total state and local tax burden in California is 6th highest in the nation, see chart 29 at<br /><br />http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/f&f_booklet-20090224.pdfAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-53265747045788050332009-07-21T19:18:25.904-05:002009-07-21T19:18:25.904-05:00Just to correct Anonymous @ 3:28, CA doesn't h...Just to correct Anonymous @ 3:28, CA doesn't have the highest taxes in any major category. They're high in some sectors, not so high in others. See the chart linked below.<br /><br />http://www.retirementliving.com/tax_burden_2008.pdfkmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-70507542295198321972009-07-21T15:28:55.582-05:002009-07-21T15:28:55.582-05:00"politicians that they have elected have refu..."politicians that they have elected have refused, over and over, to raise taxes to appropriate levels "<br /><br />What the heck is this about, California has the highest taxes in America and percapita state spending right at the top as well, just how high do you think the taxes should go TR? Perhaps California should look to Texas for an example, taxes are low, the economy is (relatively) booming and the state budget is in surplus.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-87446451564700247762009-07-21T09:53:24.177-05:002009-07-21T09:53:24.177-05:00@ Anon 6:10 PM - the issue of other state schools ...@ Anon 6:10 PM - the issue of other state schools outside of CA raises an important question. Many UC flagship schools have been spending money like they have it for decades, so the crisis there seems sudden and catastrophic. The university of Oregon, which you mentioned specifically, has been starved to death gradually by its state's lack of affluence and idiotic tax system. In fact, is there any state school in this country that receives adequate funding from its state? It's easy to blame the unis for their tuition hikes and taking on more out of staters, but what does a university do when the state obstinately refuses to give them more money (while simultaneously forcing the "state" school to comply with various idiotic state regulations)? The citizens of those states DO NOT CARE about higher education and do not want to fund it. It's that simple. Even pre-recession this was the attitude in many of these states. (Though they do like to complain endlessly when tuition is raised, laughably.) UO was just beginning to recover from over a decade of deprivation - full and associate professors there have shockingly low salaries compared to profs at other "flagship" state schools in its "peer" group because of a series of raise freezes in the '90s. While I agree that the privatization model is deeply problematic (and the UCSD letter disgusting), I feel sympathy for starving state schools, desperate to serve students and retain faculty. If states (and its citizens) don't make education a priority through their voting choices, then unis have the right to do whatever they have to to survive. <br /><br />But I also agree with you that the moves by "flagship" schools has a profound and detrimental effect on the functioning of the "lower-tier" schools.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-78996968554925433552009-07-20T14:35:35.626-05:002009-07-20T14:35:35.626-05:00I feel compelled to point out that Scull was also ...I feel compelled to point out that Scull was also the author, in 2007, of a very earnest attempt to stop people from taking Foucault seriously:<br /><br />http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25347-2626687,00.html<br /><br />Because of Scull's genius and meticulous scholarship, masterfully concentrated in a single review essay, everyone stopped reading and citing <i>History of Madness</i> and now use Scull's own excellent and provocative work instead. Oh wait, that's not true.<br /><br />(See also http://foucaultblog.wordpress.com/2007/05/20/extreme-prejudice/ )<br /><br />And look, I know it's cheap to take this sort of ad hominem shot in an anonymous comment on the internet. But as these two very public statements show, he seems to do a poor job of picking battles.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-66092764248214497332009-07-20T10:25:12.318-05:002009-07-20T10:25:12.318-05:00Scull is an embarrassment to sociology. I can thi...Scull is an embarrassment to sociology. I can think of a number of fellow sociologists who are deeply concerned with the state of public higher ed in this country, and the increasing corporatization of higher ed across all systems (public and private), who think much more rationally/radically about the budget crises than he. California spends more on incarceration than education, California has a dysfunctional government (a bizarre statement coming from a New Yorker, but our legislature did more for our budget crisis in the past two months, the majority of which spent arguing over who controlled the State Senate, than did the legislature of California), California has larger structural issues than just the budget cuts at the UCs. <br />It is particularly striking to me that Scull called for the closing of Santa Cruz and/or Riverside. In the past few years, the ranking of those sociology departments have risen. UCSD now ranks 31st, behind Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine, and UC Santa Barbara, and at the same level as UC Davis (and, to note, behind the program at CUNY's flagship Graduate Center, and at the same level as programs at NJ's flagship Rutgers and MA's flagship UMass Amherst). Riverside is now ranked 41, Santa Cruz now 54, up significantly from previous rankings. UCSF, the fourth but iffy flagship, is a lowly 64. Merced doesn't offer a PhD in sociology. Rankings from the 2009 US News and World Reports graduate school rankings, a rather overrated measure, but useful in that it measures social perception of prestige. Not to attack Scull on the basis of USNWR rankings, as if to say there is something bad about him for chairing a lower-ranked program, but it demonstrates that his work on megalomania and lunacy might be a bit of me-search - close rising programs as your own is falling? Sounds sketchy to me.Katenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-62247322310459034392009-07-19T12:00:49.324-05:002009-07-19T12:00:49.324-05:00Spot-on analysis. thank you.Spot-on analysis. thank you.bob steinhttp://www.futureofthebook.org/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-17061802622755218292009-07-17T14:53:47.361-05:002009-07-17T14:53:47.361-05:00OK, I understand that the corporatization and priv...OK, I understand that the corporatization and privatization of higher education--and just about everything else in the USA--is well underway. And I understand that many tenured and tenure-track faculty have bought into a type of social Darwinism, and been complicit in sticking it to themselves and everyone else. How can we organize, and support the efforts of other people to organize, to fight this? <br /><br />I know the AFT has been working to organize adjunct and part-time faculty. I know the unions that represent support staff at many campuses are rallying. Yet the people I know who are most critical of the situation, and most political, are the most vulnerable and have the least resources and discretionary time to strategize and fight. Maybe a huge wave of unemployment will provide more folks with free time to revive solidarity and pressure government.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-41559938134404802162009-07-17T11:47:17.857-05:002009-07-17T11:47:17.857-05:00TR, as someone who teaches at UCMerced, thank you ...TR, as someone who teaches at UCMerced, thank you for this.Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09716705206734059708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-91037279378799867742009-07-16T09:25:31.355-05:002009-07-16T09:25:31.355-05:00An iceberg did not suddenly hit this ship: those p...An iceberg did not suddenly hit this ship: those partying in the Grand Salon seem unaware that the hull has been springing multiple leaks for years and that the crew and passengers in steerage were drowning in the frigid Atlantic waters while the party went on.<br /><br />Now that the carpets are getting damp, they are expressing some alarm. But at the regents' meeting yesterday, almost no professors showed up to support the union picket which was heavy on staff and custodians. Nor was there any mention of the equally grievous plight of the lowly CSU, the community colleges, or the gutted K-12 system on which the UC so unsteadily rests. Instead, tenured faculty and chancellors went in the other door, a few gave the briefest of statements in the few minutes allowed them, and the regents (as always) ignored them and gave President Yudof the power to gut the university. <br /><br />It is said that the passengers on the "Titanic" sang "Nearer my God to thee." We cannot even sing in unison as we go down together.Gray Brechinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07932360450237471664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-23786758757566957852009-07-15T21:04:30.622-05:002009-07-15T21:04:30.622-05:00"As I understand it, Santa Cruz let go over 1..."As I understand it, Santa Cruz let go over 1000 administrative staff last month."<br /><br />UC Santa Cruz has 15,000 students and 3,000 staff -- one staff member for every five students. Unless each student on campus takes up eight hours a week of clerical support, I'm guessing the campus will do just fine with significant reductions in staffing. <br /><br />A friend at a university in another state recently told me about her school's new committee on policy regarding policy, formed by a group of associate deans to reformulate campus policies about how campus policies are formulated. Isn't it pretty much the ordinary experience on most campuses that we have six billion associate deans and assistant associate deputy deans and deputy vice provosts who mostly exist to make faculty attend more meetings?<br /><br />There's waste on all our campuses -- it's not the case that every penny ends up in the classroom or research.uc tanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-1926388272247012642009-07-15T18:10:22.709-05:002009-07-15T18:10:22.709-05:00this appears to be a common model on the West Coas...this appears to be a common model on the West Coast. Currently the University of Oregon enrolls more California students than Oregonians and made a plan to do so for precisely the same reason. While that and Nike money have kept the college going, it has meant that lesser equipped schools in the region are now taking on humanities curriculum for which they were never designed and do not pay enough to attract and retain faculty. These other schools have also hiked their tuition to almost 3 times what it was 5 years ago and out-of-state tuition to nearly private school tuition levels. Ultimately everybody loses in such a scheme, not just faculty, but students, programs, and communities whose entire make up is being transformed by the influx of out-of-state students who make their new college state their new home.<br /><br />And yet there are other schemes on the table across the country that include reliance on visiting positions with 4-4 and 5-5s. Recently I saw one such position on a listserv that expected the hire to teach 5 sections of intro their first semester and then a minimum of 3 the second for less than the cost of living.<br /><br />There has to be a better way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-60536114018079305792009-07-15T06:40:27.129-05:002009-07-15T06:40:27.129-05:00I am so relieved that I finished my PhD at UCLA be...I am so relieved that I finished my PhD at UCLA before this mess happened. And I am so very ashamed that I received my MA from UCSD's music department, one of the signatories on this letter.KGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15607603453415937865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-68752688185378275872009-07-15T04:20:50.764-05:002009-07-15T04:20:50.764-05:00Horrifying. Even without these idiotic ideas, UC ...Horrifying. Even without these idiotic ideas, UC will never be the same. My old department took away our telephones. Seriously. On the good (?) side, no more calls from ugrads explaining the dog at their homework. On the bad side: hard to negotiate for a new job on the hall phone...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-7352130137388843552009-07-15T03:11:45.175-05:002009-07-15T03:11:45.175-05:00you wrote
"as I understand it, Santa Cruz let...you wrote<br />"as I understand it, Santa Cruz let go over 1000 administrative staff last month. "<br />this is appalling. is this solid information? <br />I'm at UCSC but had not heard about this yet.UCSC student and TAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36212542.post-40498236680531654272009-07-14T21:20:29.044-05:002009-07-14T21:20:29.044-05:00Global academic restructuring was going on before ...Global academic restructuring was going on before the current world economic crisis, but the crisis is providing the justification for the kinds of changes that have been on the agenda for a while. See Academic capitalism and the new economy by Sheila Slaughter, Gary Rhoades:<br /><br />http://books.google.com/books?id=Y-mISmAUa38C&dq=academic+capitalism&source=gbs_navlinks_sKatie Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15901518232103073849noreply@blogger.com