Consultant, Bonus

[professorjackson]

Another great column in the BG News:

http://www.bgnews.com/forum/equity-week ... 963f4.html

[mscarn]

Another great column in the BG News:

http://www.bgnews.com/forum/equity-week ... 963f4.html

This might be the first ever example of that specific sequence of words. There have been several sarcasm-laden “Great, another column in the BG News” utterances but that’s about it.

Other thoughts come to mind:

1. The poverty-of-the-employed message might carry more resonance with an audience not facing thousands of dollars of debt from student loans and astronomically high rates of unemployment after graduation.
2. Do the non-tenured folks ever wonder whether their tenured brothers and sisters in arms ever offered to turn down their own raises and reallocate this money to their own cause?
3. Why is the FA under the continuing delusion that they should be immune from the broader economic conditions that have adversely affected virtually every for-profit and non-profit entity in the country?
4. If the compensation is so grossly inadequate, why aren’t we seeing mass resignations from these positions? Is it because dozens of qualified individuals would be waiting to take their place the instant they get posted?

The FA ate the administration’s lunch when it came to negotiating and this is the best they can do with PR? Surely there are a few communications profs among the ranks.

[professorjackson]

1. The poverty-of-the-employed message might carry more resonance with an audience not facing thousands of dollars of debt from student loans and astronomically high rates of unemployment after graduation.

Many of the adjuncts mentioned in the column have exactly the same levels of debt as our students face, so they sympathize/empathize with the situation. As to " astronomically high rates of unemployment after graduation," college graduates have much lower rates of unemployment than others.

2. Do the non-tenured folks ever wonder whether their tenured brothers and sisters in arms ever offered to turn down their own raises and reallocate this money to their own cause?

I guess you don't understand the ranks of those who teach: there are part-time faculty (adjuncts) --who are prevented by Ohio law from forming unions, there are full-time non-tenure track faculty, and there are tenure-track/tenured faculty. All full time faculty are covered by the CBA as negotiated by the BGSU-FA and earned the same raises and workplace protections.

3. Why is the FA under the continuing delusion that they should be immune from the broader economic conditions that have adversely affected virtually every for-profit and non-profit entity in the country?

We reject the crisis narrative being spread by the administration, and have done the financial analysis to prove it. The reports are available at www.bgsu-fa.org.

4. If the compensation is so grossly inadequate, why aren’t we seeing mass resignations from these positions? Is it because dozens of qualified individuals would be waiting to take their place the instant they get posted?

Good faculty leave BGSU quite frequently for better pay and more respect.

[mscarn]

Even though we disagree I appreciate your willingness to engage in the debate. On to the arguments:

Many of the adjuncts mentioned in the column have exactly the same levels of debt as our students face, so they sympathize/empathize with the situation. As to " astronomically high rates of unemployment after graduation," college graduates have much lower rates of unemployment than others.

The uncommon denominator is that the adjuncts have actual jobs. The students reading the tales of adjunct woe in the BG News have to first graduate before commencing the process of securing employment in the midst of the most unfriendly hiring climate in decades (with the faint hope that it is even partially related to their field) to catch up to their debt-ridden brethren. The adjuncts have not only cleared these considerable hurdles, they’re also deemed “adjunct” for a reason. Many have other jobs and teach to supplement their income or are in the process of earning more advanced postgraduate degrees. Most of this subset probably crave the very same tenure track positions with salaries and benefits that the FA presents as substandard but conveniently manage to retain in large numbers in spite of the complaining.

I guess you don't understand the ranks of those who teach: there are part-time faculty (adjuncts) --who are prevented by Ohio law from forming unions, there are full-time non-tenure track faculty, and there are tenure-track/tenured faculty. All full time faculty are covered by the CBA as negotiated by the BGSU-FA and earned the same raises and workplace protections.

The budget is finite. Increases for one group necessarily result reductions/eliminations in another.

We reject the crisis narrative being spread by the administration, and have done the financial analysis to prove it. The reports are available at http://www.bgsu-fa.org.

Our present economic state isn’t a crisis narrative concocted by a few diabolical college administrators hoping to screw professors out of a couple grand. It’s called “The Great Recession” for a reason and its ripples extend past city, state and even national boundaries. Dismissing the millions of Americans who have not had the opportunity to argue the merits of wage increases because their wages were outright eliminated is unwise. Just because the FA has side-stepped economic minefields doesn’t mean that they don’t exist or that others have been as fortunate.

Good faculty leave BGSU quite frequently for better pay and more respect.

The adjuncts and part-timers aren’t departing in numbers that would create aything close to a shortage (nor are the full-timers for that matter), and if the article and your statistics are to be believed, the circumstances they work under are not unique to BGSU.

Again, I continue to see no constructive purpose to the war-footing mentality and exaggerated tales of woe when a mutually acceptable contact was agreed to and the FA’s battle has effectively been fought and won.