tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37839658.post1022509282251682016..comments2023-10-24T10:51:56.614-04:00Comments on Citizen of Somewhere Else: Jumping the Gun: On Tenured Radical and Lumpenprofessoriat on TenureThe Constructivisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07242149985581771922noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37839658.post-7102871421968743202008-03-25T05:28:00.000-04:002008-03-25T05:28:00.000-04:00And I've linked to your open thread post!And I've linked to your open thread post!The Constructivisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07242149985581771922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37839658.post-21792047821582263892008-03-24T05:09:00.000-04:002008-03-24T05:09:00.000-04:00I'm with you on these issues.I'm with you on these issues.The Constructivisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07242149985581771922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37839658.post-30489106012823255112008-03-23T11:34:00.000-04:002008-03-23T11:34:00.000-04:00Get unions if they lost tenure, no. Realize, if th...Get unions if they lost tenure, no. Realize, if they lose tenure, that they do NOT have friends in the Big House, maybe. I only say this because at my quite large state university even AAUP meetings generally only have a very few lukewarm attendees. <BR/><BR/>I also remember back in graduate school, in a very liberal town, trying as a first step toward unionization to get T.A.s to sign a petition requesting health coverage. Very many of them were afraid to do it, saying they thought their (future) dissertation directors might see their signatures and refuse to write them letters of recommendation, so that they would never have jobs. The *only* professor who signed that petition was a foreigner, from a country where health insurance was universal, so that he considered our request a normal one and not "radical."<BR/><BR/>ACTUALLY, though, as I write this, I realize that if faculty are this timid WITH tenure, they will probably not get militant without it - probably they will start fighting over crumbs.<BR/><BR/>ONE OF THE MAIN THINGS I learned in graduate school was by chance, from a historian. His dissertation argued contra Marx that you don't get positive progressive developments as a result of terrible situations, but as a result of good times. I don't know if that's always right but it has always seemed to me to be a useful corrective to the idea that it takes really bad times to get people to wake up and do something<BR/>(they may wake up and do something, sure, but it won't necessarily be progressive).<BR/><BR/>Anyway: I am *so* against the idea of abolishing tenure. I think the people who are for that, are really naive. It takes a very privileged situation to not see what things would be like...<BR/><BR/>I'd favor tenuring people sooner and more easily, so that it weren't so hard to move around after tenure and so that less energy had to go into it. <BR/><BR/>One could make *promotion* standards hard etc., but when people are in fear of their paycheck and so on for so long, and hostage to possibly abusive colleagues for so long, it isn't good. To say the least. <BR/><BR/>STILL, the answer is not to abolish tenure, it will make things worse.<BR/>After all, it's the tenured people who can feel safe to unionize ... right?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37839658.post-24105713295845458412008-03-23T02:23:00.000-04:002008-03-23T02:23:00.000-04:00What happened in NY was a move from the state coup...What happened in NY was a move from the state coupled with a move by the professoriate. Some of my colleagues helped found UUP and they always point out the state saw it in its interest to bargain once for SUNY (and prevent make striking illegal). Why anyone would get unions if they lost tenure is beyond me. And why wait to lose them before trying?The Constructivisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07242149985581771922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37839658.post-10940520621558350212008-03-22T01:51:00.000-04:002008-03-22T01:51:00.000-04:00Tenure + union is what I'm for. But I think the ab...Tenure + union is what I'm for. But I <BR/>think the abolition of tenure is what it would take to get most faculty to unionize. I suspect this is what TR and also Bosquet are thinking of.Professor Zerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04909063513731044826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37839658.post-60198720267750713462008-03-21T01:15:00.000-04:002008-03-21T01:15:00.000-04:00Thanks, I've updated the post itself.Thanks, I've updated the post itself.The Constructivisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07242149985581771922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37839658.post-13235827902077065772008-03-20T12:08:00.000-04:002008-03-20T12:08:00.000-04:00OK--I found a little time to enter the fray this ...OK--I found a little time to <A HREF="http://aftblog.blogs.com/face/2008/03/the-slippery-sl.html" REL="nofollow">enter the fray </A> this morning.Craig @ AFThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01619162376916883142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37839658.post-33038166484983929352008-03-19T16:25:00.000-04:002008-03-19T16:25:00.000-04:00Speaking of tenure!Speaking of <A HREF="http://www.freeexchangeoncampus.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=939&Itemid=54" REL="nofollow">tenure</A>!The Constructivisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07242149985581771922noreply@blogger.com