How The University Works

Tip of the hat to an anonymous commenter over at Household Opera’s entry on Adjuncting in the Tar Pits:

I suppose part of the reason why I never considered a career in academia is that I am the child of an adjunct. My father was teaching at three different institutions when I was small, and later, as he gained more seniority, he was able to teach at just one. He teaches at a community college, and he was *finally* made a full-timer this year, at the age of 63, thanks to the union. The only reason we had (barely) enough money or health insurance growing up is that my mother taught in the local public schools. And funny enough, my mother is the one who went to a state school and my dad is the one who went to the Ivy. Dad’s employer, and lots of others are making more and more use of adjuncts and driving wages down to a despicable level. I don’t know why more people aren’t outraged.

You can say that again.
I don’t know why more people aren’t outraged.

Thank you.

If you’re at the MLA annual convention in San Francisco and feeling, well, precarious, the discussion group for faculty serving contingently invites you to a guerilla happy hour at the Hilton’s Urban Tavern, Monday, December 29, beginning 4:30 pm. I’ll be there with young Emile, who may literally have bells on.

Recently:

• Higher Ed Inspires Labor “Videos of the Year”
• Baddest of the Bad
• Learning to Remember: After March 4
• Scientific American: Academic ‘Labor Market Gone Seriously Awry’
• MLA Confidential, Part 1
• Howard Zinn: A Public Intellectual Who Mattered
• Kindle or Netbook?
• Occupy the AHA!
• History “Job Czar” Shuts Down Phd Production (PhD “Oversupply” Continues For Two Decades)
• Who’s A Historian to the AHA?